LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 12/2010

Bible Of the Day
Luke12/22-38: "He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. 12:23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 12:24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 12:25 Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? 12:26 If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? 12:27 Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 12:28 But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? 12:29 Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. 12:30 For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. 12:31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. 12:32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 12:33 Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also".

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
The age of Maronite mediocrity/The Daily Star/ February 11/10
Idealism and the Hariri commemoration/By Michael Young/February 11/10
The West should help Iran go “green”/By:Nadim Koteic/ February 11/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 11/10
Official: U.S. Looking Forward to Boost Support for Lebanese Army's Special Forces/Naharnet
Ahmadinejad warns Israel against any military move/Reuters
Official: Iran wants low-grade warfare to escalate into larger conflict/WND.com
Five years on, Lebanon's 'Cedar Revolution' wanes/AFP
Hariri: We Won't Split Beirut, No Compromise on International Tribunal/Naharnet
Aridi: Naameh Coast Off-Limits, No Final Say until Missing Piece of Cockpit Recorder is Found/Naharnet
Hariri: Unity best defense against Israel/Daily Star/Naharnet
Aridi in Syria to Pave Way for Jumblat's Trip after Feb. 14/Naharnet
Lebanon Rejects 'Sabotage' Hypothesis in Plane Crash/Naharnet
Suleiman to Ask Cabinet to Choose Between Amendments or Stick to Old Electoral Law/Naharnet
Berri Follows up Probe into NNA's Release of Ansar al-Gadhafi Statement/Naharnet
Jumblat: I Won't Visit Syria … I Will Participate in Feb. 14 Rally/Naharnet
Baroud: Reforms to Electoral Law to be Approved Thursday or Friday/Naharnet
Berri to Lieberman: You Have Essential Role in Trying to Assassinate Lebanon's Unity, Your Accusation to Hizbullah 'Desperate/Naharnet
Lieberman to Hariri: Hizbullah Killed Your Father, Israel to Fiercely Retaliate to Any Attack/Naharnet
Baroud: Nothing will hamper timely polls/Daily Star/Daily Star
Syria takes diplomatic route to influence in Lebanon/Daily Star
Hariri's support of resistance during BBC interview draws slurs from Lieberman/Daily Star
Jumblatt to attend February 14 rally 'like any ordinary citizen/Daily Star
Sfeir marks St. Maroun holiday with Beirut Mass/Daily Star
King of Spain honors fallen UNIFIL forces in Marjayoun/Daily Star
Lebanon's 2010 fiscal deficit to worsen on higher spending/Daily Star
Bassil rejects Lebanon tax hikes, says move will not solve problems/Daily Star
Divers retrieve cockpit recorder from crashed Ethiopian plane/AFP
Police thwart bid to smuggle 'cocaine carpet/Daily Star
Maronite monks launch certified organic wine/AFP
Participation in Libya summit 'would offend Lebanese/Daily Star
Fadlallah: Lebanon free of sectarian strife/Daily Star
Women's rights campaign slams political self-interest/Daily Star
Minister vows to implement firm strategies to protect youngsters/Naharnet
Syria still considers its influence in Lebanon a winning card, says Hamadeh/Now Lebanon

Official: U.S. Looking Forward to Boost Support for Lebanese Army's Special Forces
/Naharnet/A top U.S. official has said that Washington looks forward to increasing support for the Lebanese army's special forces that are tasked with carrying out counter-terror operations.Washington trusts Defense Minister Elias Murr and his accompanying delegation, the official told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat about Murr's visit to the U.S. The minister has met with U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns. Informed sources told al-Hayat that Mitchell discussed with Murr U.S. efforts to renew Mideast peacemaking. Murr also held talks with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro and President Barack Obama's top anti-terror aide John Brennan. The sources said arming the Lebanese military and the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 are the two pillars of Murr's visit to Washington. The U.S. looks forward to the consolidation of the Lebanese army's presence in southern Lebanon, demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border and agreement over logistics to pave way for Israel's pullout from the border village of Ghajar, the sources told the newspaper. Murr is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday. Beirut, 11 Feb 10, 08:12

Lebanon Rejects 'Sabotage' Hypothesis in Plane Crash
Naharnet/Lebanon hit back at Ethiopian Airlines, saying there is no evidence at all of any sabotage act behind the plane disaster as claims mounted after sources said that a pilot error caused the crash. Meanwhile, the coastal strip of Naameh south of Beirut was declared "off-limits" for search teams. "There is no time limit on search operations," a ministerial source said in remarks published Thursday by the daily As-Safir. Prime Minister Saad Hariri was keen during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday not to politicize the plane disaster. A source close to the probe into the plane crash has told Reuters that "the investigation team has reached an early conclusion that it was pilot error, based on information from the black box." Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday said it could not rule out "sabotage" as the cause of the crash of Ethiopian Flight 409 on Jan. 25 shortly after takeoff from Beirut airport with 90 people on board. The airline had previously ruled out foul play in the plane crash of the Boeing 737-800, none of whose 83 passengers and seven crew survived. "Ethiopian Airlines does not rule out all possible causes including the possibility of sabotage until the final outcome of the investigation is known," the company said in a statement. Information Minister Tareq Mitri, however, said Wednesday that Lebanon has not received any official information about contents of the first black box. One of the plane's two black boxes recovered on Sunday has been sent to France for analysis. Results, however, will not come out before five or six months. Search teams on Wednesday pulled the second black box but an essential piece was missing. "The base of the second black box from the ill-fated Ethiopian jet has been recovered; however, it appeared that the part containing the memory device of the cockpit voice recorder was separated from the base," said a statement by the Lebanese army. Ethiopian Airlines said it was issuing a statement to guard against any speculation on the cause of the crash, the worst in the company's history.
"The investigation is still in its early stage and the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) and the aircraft wreckage are not yet retrieved for analysis, it is therefore, too early to conclude the cause of the accident," it said. There have been conflicting reports as to whether the jet exploded while airborne or after it hit the water, and officials have said there will be no answers until the data from the black boxes is analyzed. Beirut, 11 Feb 10, 08:14

Aridi: Naameh Coast Off-Limits, No Final Say until Missing Piece of Cockpit Recorder is Found
Naharnet/Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi on Thursday declared the coastal strip of Naameh off-limits and said no official announcement would be made unless the missing part from the cockpit recorder was found. "The area of search operations off the coast of Naameh is off-limits," Aridi told a packed news conference at Beirut airport.
He said Lebanon, however, will halt recovery of more debris unless it was told otherwise by the Ethiopian Airlines company. "Some of the plane parts were kept in place. If the insurance company wants to retrieve them and ask Ethiopian Airlines for that, then we will do the job," said Aridi as he showed pictures of the plane wreckage taken underwater. He vowed, however, not to make any "official announcement before the entire second black box was found." One of the plane's two black boxes recovered on Sunday has been sent to France for analysis. Results, however, will not come out before five or six months. Search teams on Wednesday pulled the second black box but an essential piece was missing. "The base of the second black box from the ill-fated Ethiopian jet has been recovered; however, it appeared that the part containing the memory device of the cockpit voice recorder was separated from the base," said a statement by the Lebanese army. Aridi paid tribute to the extraordinary efforts of the airport staff and handed air traffic controllers a letter of praise for good performance.
A source close to the probe into the plane crash has told Reuters that "the investigation team has reached an early conclusion that it was pilot error, based on information from the black box." Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday said it could not rule out "sabotage" as the cause of the crash of Ethiopian Flight 409 on Jan. 25 shortly after takeoff from Beirut airport with 90 people on board. The airline had previously ruled out foul play in the plane crash of the Boeing 737-800, none of whose 83 passengers and seven crew survived.
"Ethiopian Airlines does not rule out all possible causes including the possibility of sabotage until the final outcome of the investigation is known," the company said in a statement.(Snapshot taken from TV) Beirut, 11 Feb 10, 11:35

Hariri: We Won't Split Beirut, No Compromise on International Tribunal
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri was adamant that Beirut should not be divided, adding that that national unity is the most effective weapon to confront Israeli threats. Hariri called for massive turnout in the Feb. 14 rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The rally "should renew Lebanese trust in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon," Hariri told delegates representing Beirut families at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center (BIEL)."Let's offer the world a national Lebanese panorama. Let us tell the world there will be no compromises on the STL," he said. "What we have already achieved on the path toward justice and truth is worthy of continuing the struggle for," Hariri added. Turning to Israel, Hariri said that national unity was the "most powerful weapon in our hands to face up to Israeli threats."
"There is a stream of Israeli threats facing Lebanon today and those threats should not be handled as mere media messages," Hariri pointed. "Those threats are the equivalent of daily violations to Resolution 1701 and a clear announcement of Israeli intentions toward Lebanon," he added. Hariri stressed that Israel was betting on instigating splits among the Lebanese.
"Losing national unity would lead to a loss of Lebanon's peace and stability," he said. The premier said Lebanon won't take chances with its stability and national unity. "Lebanon refuses to be an easy target."On Beirut, Hariri said his father was convinced in the "role, the message and the exceptional status Beirut held."Beirut is a "symbol of unity, culture and coexistence."
"We won't divide Beirut," he warned. "Beirut is the capital of Lebanon, and there is no room for divisions or segregation in the capital," in reference to suggestions by several Lebanese officials to divide Beirut into three electoral constituencies during municipal elections planned for June. Beirut, 11 Feb 10, 07:26

Berri Follows up Probe into NNA's Release of Ansar al-Gadhafi Statement
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly following up an investigation into the release by the state-run National News Agency of a statement by the so-called Ansar al-Gadhafi group on Lebanon's participation in the Arab summit in Libya next month. Al-Liwaa daily said Thursday that Berri has made phone calls to Premier Saad Hariri and involved officials at the information ministry to find out who was responsible behind the release of the statement, which urged the Lebanese government not to boycott the Arab summit. Lebanon's Shiites, mainly Berri and his Amal movement, have advised the government not to participate in the summit next month over the mystery of missing Imam Moussa al-Sadr.  In 1978, the Shiite religious leader flew to Tripoli for a week of talks with Libyan officials. He was never seen or heard from again. Sadr's followers accuse Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi of involvement in his disappearance.(AP file photo shows Sadr's pictures) Beirut, 11 Feb 10, 08:45

Lieberman to Hariri: Hizbullah Killed Your Father, Israel to Fiercely Retaliate to Any Attack
Naharnet/Israel's firebrand ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday snapped back at PM Saad Hariri over his BBC interview broadcast on the same day. "As prime minister, he's simply a hostage of Hizbullah, which has veto power in his Cabinet," Lieberman told Israel's Army Radio. "Hizbullah killed his father, former premier Rafik Hariri," added Lieberman. Asked whether there might be a new war involving Lebanon and Syria, Lieberman said: "I very much hope not." However, he threatened to fiercely retaliate on any attack against Israel that may be waged from Lebanon or Syria. "We have no interest in heating up the fronts with any of our neighbors. At the same time, we won't be a punching bag. And we won't shrug off vitriol that's directed at Israel," he said. Earlier, Hariri voiced concern about Israeli threats and escalating military activity in a BBC interview.
Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Hizbullah will spark a tough response, and have been locked in a war of words with Syrian leaders.
"We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats," Hariri told the British broadcaster. "We see what's happening on the ground and in our airspace and what's happening all the time during the past two months - every day we have Israeli planes entering Lebanese airspace. "This is something that is escalating, and this is something that is really dangerous," said the prime minister. Hariri warned Israel not to count on Lebanon remaining divided in case of an attack. "I think they're betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us," said the prime minister. "Well, there won't be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to ease tensions on Sunday, saying Israel wants peace with all of its neighbors, but had last week accused Beirut of allowing Hizbullah to smuggle weapons into Lebanon in "blatant violation" of U.S. Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 war.(Naharnet-AP-AFP) Beirut, 10 Feb 10, 18:37

Berri to Lieberman: You Have Essential Role in Trying to Assassinate Lebanon's Unity, Your Accusation to Hizbullah 'Desperate'
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri tackled the escalation in Israeli threats against Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians during his Wednesday's weekly discussions with the MPs.
Answering a question on the remarks of ultra-nationalist Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his accusation to Hizbullah of assassinating former premier Rafik Hariri, Berri described the accusation as "desperate." "After that statement, we became confident that you have an essential role in assassinating the unity of Lebanon," Berri addressed Lieberman.
Earlier Wednesday, Lieberman lashed out at PM Saad Hariri over his BBC interview broadcast on the same day. "As prime minister, he's simply a hostage of Hizbullah, which has veto power in his Cabinet," Lieberman told Israel's Army Radio.  "Hizbullah killed his father, former premier Rafik Hariri," added Lieberman. Hariri warned Israel not to count on Lebanon remaining divided in case of an attack. "I think they're betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us," said the prime minister. "Well, there won't be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people."(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 10 Feb 10, 19:53

Hariri: Unity best defense against Israel
By Nafez Qawas
/Daily Star correspondent
Thursday, February 11, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri said late Wednesday Lebanon will stand united against ongoing Israeli threats. Addressing delegations of Beiruti families at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center (BIEL), Hariri also urged massive participation in the February 14 rally to mark five years since the assassination, in 2005, of his father former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Union of Beiruti Families held a dinner in BIEL to mark the election of its new board.
Hariri said Sunday’s rally should renew the Lebanese’s trust in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). “Let’s offer the world a national Lebanese panorama, let’s us tell the world there will be no compromises concerning the STL,” he added. Hariri stressed that national unity was the “best and most efficient” manner to confront Israeli threats. “There is a flow of Israeli threats facing Lebanon today and those threats should not be handled as mere media messages. Those threats are the equivalent of daily violations to Resolution 1701 and a clear announcement of Israeli intentions toward Lebanon,” he said. Security Council Resolution 1701 put an end to the 2006 summer war with Israel. Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Lebanon’s Hizbullah will spark a tough response. Last week, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem warned Israelis that Syria would back Lebanon in any war against Lebanon. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, meanwhile, said Damascus had “crossed a red line” and warned Syria its army would be defeated and its regime would collapse in a future conflict.The prime minister urged the international community to assume its responsibilities concerning the repeated Israeli threats against Lebanon.
“National unity is the most effective weapon in our hands to face Israeli threats,” Hariri said. “This is a reality that should be known by each and every Lebanese from north to south.”
The premier stressed that Israel was betting on instigating divisions among the Lebanese. He added that “losing national unity would lead to a loss of Lebanon’s peace and stability.”
Hariri said Lebanon would not gamble with its stability and national unity, and “refuses to be an easy target.”
“It’s not a secret that Israel has vicious intentions toward Lebanon because Israel is the enemy,” Hariri added.
Tackling the Rafik Hariri commemoration, Hariri said the participation of Lebanese in Sunday’s event would be a message to the world that no compromise concerning the STL would occur. “What we have already achieved on the path toward justice and truth deserves that we continue to struggle for and to present to the world a national Lebanese scene that enforces trust in the STL,” Hariri added. The STL, which was established by UN Security Council resolutions 1664 and 1775, investigates Rafik Hariri’s assassination and other crimes targeting politicians as well as journalists between 2005 and 2008. Hariri told Beiruti families on Wednesday that he shared his father’s fondness of the Lebanese capital. “Rafik Hariri was convinced in the role, the message and the exceptional status Beirut held,” he said. The prime minister added that the capital was a symbol of “unity, culture, and coexistence.” He said he refused all attempts to divide Beirut, adding that Christian and Muslim Beirutis sought a “unified capital.” Hariri said he refused to allow the spell of civil divisions to also cast a shadow over Beirut. The prime minister was implicitly responding to calls by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to divide Beirut into three electoral districts during the municipal elections scheduled for June. “Beirut is the capital of Lebanon, and in the capital there is no place for divisions or segregation,” Hariri said.

Hariri's support of resistance during BBC interview draws slurs from Lieberman
Daily Star staff/Thursday, February 11, 2010
BEIRUT: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday Premier Saad Hariri has placed himself “hostage to [the group] that murdered his father,” in reference to Hizbullah. Lieberman was responding to Hariri, who told BBC that his government would support the resistance in case a new war breaks out. Responding to Lieberman’s remarks, Speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that Israel was the party responsible for “dividing Lebanon’s unity.” In a BBC interview broadcast Wednesday, Hariri voiced concern about Israeli threats and escalating military activity. Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Lebanon’s Shiite group Hizbullah would spark a tough response, and have been locked in a war of words with Syrian leaders. “We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats,” Hariri told the British broadcaster. “We see what’s happening on the ground and in our airspace and what’s happening all the time during the past two months – every day we have Israeli planes entering Lebanese airspace. “This is something that is escalating and something that is really dangerous,” Hariri said.
A month-long Israeli offensive in 2006 against Lebanon destroyed large swathes of south Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs but did more damage to Israel’s military reputation than Hizbullah’s. The war killed over 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers. Hariri warned Israel not to count on Lebanon, whose politics is highly factious, remaining divided in case of an attack. “I think they’re betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us,” said the prime minister. “Well, there won’t be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to ease tensions on Sunday, saying Israel wants peace with all of its neighbors, but had last week accused Beirut of allowing Hizbullah to smuggle weapons into Lebanon in “blatant violation” of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 war. – The Daily Star, with AFP

Sfeir marks St. Maroun holiday with Beirut Mass
Sleiman says anniversary of concern to all Lebanese
Daily Star staff/Thursday, February 11, 2010
BEIRUT: The Maronite patriarch celebrated on Tuesday the Saint Maroun holiday during a Mass attended by Lebanese top officials at the Saint Georges Cathedral in Downtown Beirut, while Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun and other opposition figures commemorated the occasion in the Syrian village of Brad, near Aleppo.
This year’s Saint Maroun holiday falls on the 1,600th anniversary of the death of the founder of the Maronite Church. Saint Maroun flourished as a hermit in Brad, a village north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, before moving with his followers to Lebanon. He is buried in the village.
President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Saad Hariri, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and several MPs and ministers participated in the mass in Downtown Beirut while Marada Movement leader Sleiman Franjieh and former President Emile Lahoud attended the ceremony in Brad.
In his sermon, Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir urged followers of the Maronite Church to hold on to their religious, national and ethical beliefs as he asked God to bestow prosperity on the Maronite Church and its community. Meanwhile, Beirut Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar stressed that although the Maronite Church “stemmed from Qurush Mountains in Syria, it grew as a tree with its roots in Lebanon.” Similarly, Batroun Bishop Boulos Saade stressed the Maronite community’s commitment to Lebanon as a final nation and a message of freedom to the world.
Following the Mass, Matar held an honorary lunch that was attended by Sleiman, Berri, Hariri, Sfeir and the Vatican Ambassador to Lebanon Gabriele Checchia.
Speaking at the lunch, Sleiman said Saint Maroun’s anniversary concerned all the Lebanese rather than only the Maronite community. “Saint Maroun, Saint George and the Beirut diocese are for all of Lebanon,” Sleiman added.
For his part, Matar praised Sleiman’s keenness to unite the Lebanese and promote reconciliations among Maronites as well as on the national level. Earlier Tuesday, Sfeir said following a Mass in Bkirki that the more Maronites were “divided among themselves the more likely they would be defeated by greedy people.” Also, speaking following the Mass held in Brad, Aoun said that Eastern Christians carried their Christianity to the West and never weakened before injustice but rather resisted. “We are strong when righteous but also forgiving,” Aoun said. The FPM leader added that the participation in the ceremony in Aleppo was aimed against all those who promoted conflict among civilizations. “Civilizations interact to set a better course for the evolution of humanity,” he added. Meanwhile, Vatican Ambassador to Syria Mario Zenari said Eastern Christians carried the responsibility of promoting rapprochement among all religious communities in order to guarantee peace and justice particularly in the Middle East. “You, Syrians, can be proud of your religious pluralism, and it is our responsibility as Christians living in the Middle East to be a means to bringing the human family together to secure justice, fraternity and peace in the region,” he added. For his part, Franjieh underlined the importance of celebrating Saint Maroun’s anniversary in Aleppo, adding that “we are proud of our relations with Syria and we support it in all its political stances.” Later Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad hosted the Lebanese officials for an honorary lunch. – The Daily Star

Jumblatt to attend February 14 rally 'like any ordinary citizen'
By Nafez Qawas /Daily Star correspondent
Thursday, February 11, 2010
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said that he would take part in the February 14 rally to commemorate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but added that he would not deliver a speech at the ceremony. “I agreed with Premier Hariri on this and I will attend the rally like any ordinary citizen … like all the Lebanese because in the end Rafik Hariri belonged to all the Lebanese,” Jumblatt said. Following a meeting with Premier Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail Wednesday, Jumblatt said he will not visit Syria before February 14. “When the Syrian government finds it suitable for me to visit Damascus, I will not refuse,” he added. Earlier on Wednesday, Jumblatt and his son Timor visited the headquarters of the Armenian Tashnag Party in Burj Hammoud and held talks with party head Hagop Mekhtirian and MP Hagop Pakradounian.
In an interview with As-Safir newspaper published Tuesday, Walid Jumblat denied that he had called on the US to invade Syria during a 2006 interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. “I never called for the invasion of Syria by the US Army … this is crazy,” Jumblat told As-Safir. “Maybe I thought at the time the condition of the opposition in Syria could improve.” “I hope my clarification today would wipe out the offensive words against the Syrian people and the Syrian leadership,” he said. Jumblatt also slammed the ongoing attacks by March 14 figures against Syria. “I don’t see a need for that particularly after the historic settlement began with Premier Saad Hariri’s visit to Damascus.” He added that certain figures from the March 14 Forces wanted to overlook the fact that Hariri paid a visit to Damascus.
Tackling the string of assassinations which rocked Lebanon between 2005 and 2008 and targeted politicians as well as journalists, Jumblatt said the assassinations continued even after the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005. “Maybe someone wanted to pour oil on fire,” he said. On Hizbullah and the resistance, Jumblatt expressed solidarity with the resistance. “We only see solidarity with the resistance in Lebanon and with Syria because Israeli madness could lead to war anytime,” he said. “That’s why I say we are with the Syrian leadership above anything else in our commitment to confront the Israeli enemy,” the PSP leader added. He told As-Safir he would meet with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah soon.
Touching upon the February 14 rally to mark five years since Hariri’s assassination, Jumblatt reiterated that he hoped the occasion would bring all Lebanese together. “Unfortunately some people are trying to isolate us from the commemoration and seeking to build a hostile atmosphere against us without any justification,” he said.

Idealism and the Hariri commemoration
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The debate over whether to attend the commemoration this weekend of Rafik Hariri’s assassination has divided the March 14 faithful. Some will be present on Sunday, others not. But at a moment like this one it is worth recalling what the Independence Intifada of 2005 was really about. It was about Lebanon itself – its contradictory, antagonistic, pluralistic, paradoxically liberal instincts, but also the sectarianism that gave rise to all these characteristics. There is an argument today that the ideals of the Independence Intifada were betrayed by the politicians back then, and again last year when they followed up the March 14 victory in legislative elections with an endorsement of Hizbullah’s weapons and a Saudi-imposed reconciliation with Syria that, to some degree, overturned the gains made five years ago. This reasoning is justified but incomplete.
The essential driver of the Independence Intifada was sectarianism. We surely have to qualify that thought by acknowledging the essential role played between February 14 and March 14 by an educated, mostly Christian middle class that kept alive the daily protests at Martyrs Square, in conjunction with youths from all communities who manned the tent city there. By and large the primary motives of these people were idealistic, not sectarian, and without them holding the ground, the security services would have easily stifled the dissenters.
However, there were three defining days in the weeks after the Hariri assassination, and their particular power derived from the fact that they emerged from the recesses of Lebanon’s sectarian makeup, with its particular genius for imposing equilibrium. The first was the Hariri funeral; the second, the March 8 rally organized by Hizbullah to “thank” Syria; and the third, the then-opposition’s rejoinder on March 14.
While the funeral was “national” in character, and multisectarian, both the large numbers involved and the moment’s particular impetus were the consequence of massive Sunni participation, as the community came out in force to condemn the murder of a Sunni leader. March 8, in turn, was primarily a Hizbullah-led Shiite reaction to weeks of anti-Syrian behavior, perceived as a challenge to Hizbullah and therefore to the Shiites.
Then came March 14, the ultimate distillation of Lebanon’s chaotic pluralism. Everyone was united in wanting Syria out, but then things became more complicated. The large numbers of Sunnis participating did so as a riposte against the Shiites the week before. The Aounists were principally concerned with bringing back their leader from his exile in France. The supporters of the Lebanese Forces were there above all to secure Samir Geagea’s release from prison. And buffeted by these diverse currents were individuals who may well have shared each or all of these aims, but whose primary purpose was to defend the vision of a Lebanon that could transcend its discord and do away with the overbearing political leaders to forge a modern, progressive, representative society.
In retrospect, this group was a minority. Undoubtedly many at Martyrs Square would have supported such a vision if asked. Yet when it came time to act upon it, they went in other directions. The politicians proved far more popular than the idealists presumed, and even before legislative elections took place in May and June 2005 their parochial calculations had won the day. At best, one could say that sectarianism, by imposing equilibrium on all, by balancing off contending political or social forces, created spaces in which Lebanese liberalism could thrive – a paradoxical liberalism, to be sure, for being built on often illiberal institutions.
That’s why the discussion today about the meaning of the Hariri commemoration seems so detached from reality. It is largely occurring between the idealists. One can only respond by saying two things: there will be a good turnout this Sunday because the leaders, keen to gain approval for their latest policies, will ensure it; and this detail will reconfirm how marginal the idealists are in shaping what happens next in Lebanon.
But since bitterness is in the air, let’s at least give the idealists their due. In 2005 they were at the forefront demanding the truth about who had killed Rafik Hariri and all those who followed him – from Samir Kassir to Wissam Eid and including the Lebanese and foreigners who died in numerous bomb attacks. Today, the prospect that the guilty will be punished seems negligible. And by the guilty we mean those who gave the orders, not the underlings who committed the crimes, knew about them and failed to stop them, or who tampered with evidence.
Last week, Lebanon was honored with a visit by the president of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Antonio Cassese. He reassured us that the tribunal was ready to perform, but that there was no deadline for indictments. Explaining the ongoing delay, Cassese observed: “All acts of terrorism are much more complicated than war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.” Why? Because “[t]errorist acts involve secret cells. There’s no clear chain of command or hierarchy.”
Perhaps he knows what he’s talking about, but the first investigator appointed by the United Nations, Detlev Mehlis, had less murky a reading of things. As he explained in a 2006 interview: “The Hariri case is an unusual one. Usually in investigations you start at the bottom and work your way up. In the Hariri case we started pretty much at the top and worked down. We had an accurate view of how the assassination took place from above, but less clear a view of what happened on the ground.”
In other words, Mehlis had a fairly lucid sense of the chain of command and hierarchy, requiring only a competent investigation at the bottom to fill out the empty spaces. We didn’t get one from Serge Brammertz, and even if Daniel Bellemare eventually finds something, he will very likely not point a finger at the real perpetrators in the Syrian regime.
The “Truth” was a potent slogan back in 2005, but the Lebanese, both leaders and obedient followers, are in a different mood today. That’s why the Hariri commemoration feels so hollow to so many. The idealists may have read too much into events five years ago, but they were entitled to expect justice for the victims. Even that is being denied them today. **Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. His book, “The Ghosts of Martyrs Square”, an eyewitness account of Lebanon after the Hariri assassination, will be published in April by Simon & Schuster.
 

The age of Maronite mediocrity
By The Daily Star
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Editorial
As Lebanon and elsewhere celebrated the feast day of the holiest saint in the Maronite church this week, it might not be a “politic” occasion to say it, but there are times when one must dot the Is and cross the Ts, as the Arabic expression has it. Under such conditions, the role of a newspaper or other media consists of stating the obvious. It might not be a particularly new idea, but it’s the media’s duty to relay the concerns of many, and, as they say, state it “for the record.”
We live in the age of Maronite political mediocrity. This week’s celebrations of the Saint Maroun feast day transcend all Maronite political leaders, and their unfortunate division this year into simplistic pro-Syrian and pro-something-else camps. It’s a case of mediocrity, unfortunately, bringing the angels to the ground.
The Maronite community can boast of some momentous achievements over the last few centuries. They might be called “social,” “cultural” or “literary” phenomena, but they’ve had a significant political impact as well. The Maronites have served the revival of the Arabic language in its modern form, counting numerous novelists, poets and playwrights among their ranks, in an achievement that extends far beyond the borders of tiny Lebanon. They played a pioneering role in developing modern institutions of learning and education in this part of the world, a process that had extensions as far as Syria, Iraq and Egypt. In the last few centuries, the Maronites were instrumental in establishing the modern Arabic press; again, this impact wasn’t limited to Lebanon. The Maronites have also played a key role in the realm of cultural, scientific and other forms of interaction: they functioned as a gateway for Western innovations to enter “the east.” Maronites have peddled and promoted new and modern concepts, techniques and products as far away as Iran.
Maronites continue to play a pivotal role in the region on certain levels, thanks mainly to the business and professional acumen of certain individuals. This clout might appear in the form of Maronite Lebanese in the Diaspora, whether it’s Carlos Ghosn, who runs Nissan and Renault, or Carlos Slim, one of the richest people on the planet.
But as a civil society and political “entity” in the homeland, Maronite political leaders are burdening their community with their mediocrity and obsession with short-term, zero-sum game politics. This, in turn, transmits to Lebanon and the country’s political process in Lebanon a sick dose of mediocrity. And in politics, mediocrity can constitute danger. No solution for this state of affairs is apparent, as many naively hope for change. But one must cross the Ts and dot the Is. It’s the age of Maronite mediocrity.

Maronite monks launch certified organic wine
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Jocelyne Zablit
KFIFAN: With faith on their side and blessed harvests, Lebanon’s Christian Maronite monks have injected a touch of modern marketing savvy into their age-old wine-making tradition to launch the country’s first certified organic wine. Emblazoned with a cross, their wine bottles recently hit stores under the label Adyar, Arabic for monasteries, catching the eye of connoisseurs.
“Wine is mentioned in the Bible and Jesus gave it symbolic meaning by turning water into wine,” said Brother Hanna Ghantous, 39, who oversees the winery at Mar Moussa, one of eight monasteries involved in the Adyar project that was launched in 2003. “So what we are doing is not unusual,” the black-robed monk sporting a long, dark beard told AFP.
“Of course, some would say we are assisted by divine intervention, but our aim is not a commercial one,” Ghantous said. “Adyar has a spiritual aim, which is to work the land and provide jobs for the local community. That is how I look at our wine.” The 18th-century monastery of Mar Moussa, built over the remains of an old sanctuary, sits atop a hill surrounded by pine trees, lush green fields and vineyards in the Metn region east of Beirut. Though Ghantous appears an odd figure amid the wine vats and bottles stacked in the caves underneath the monastery, he adroitly holds up a glass of the latest cuvee, waxing poetic about its qualities. His interest in wine-making has won him an invitation to Australia later this month for a four-year study of viniculture.
Farther north at the7th-century monastery of Kfifan, located in the region of Batroun and identified with Saint Hardini, Lebanon’s third Maronite saint, Brother Joseph Bou Faysal, 29, supervises the wine making. “Of course, we put a bit of our spirituality, some prayer into our work,” he said. “We offer people something real, something good, we give them something from us.” French oenologist Frederic Cacchia, who oversees production at Adyar, said the wines stand apart for being organic, and because they come from grapes grown outside the Bekaa Valley, the heartland of Lebanon’s wine industry. “People always associate Lebanese wine with the Bekaa, but we are proving that there can be diversity,” he said.
“We are exploring other regions and showing that you can make wine outside the Bekaa,” Cacchia added. The eight wine-making monasteries are located in different regions across the country, giving each wine its own distinct flavor. “The same grape variety is going to have a different expression from one monastery to the other,” said Cacchia. “At Kfifan the vines are grown at an altitude of 400 meters, whereas at Mar Moussa they are grown at a 900-meter altitude,” he said.
Cacchia said he asks that each new harvest be blessed by the monks. He then lets the wine, priced between $14 and $18 a bottle, do the talking. Though Adyar was started in 2003, until late last year when it hit the shops, the wine was made in limited quantities and sold at the monasteries. “We do not use any pesticides or chemical products and have very little disease because of the good climate conditions,” Cacchia said. Production now stands at 45,000 bottles, but Cacchia hopes to raise that to 150,000 bottles within two years, and to begin exporting. While the religious aspect of Adyar may draw curious customers, Cacchia hopes that quality will be the wine’s final selling point.
“Of course, some people will see this as a blessed product, but that won’t sell 145,000 bottles,” he said. “We are banking on quality.” And the competition is stiff, with some 33 wine makers vying for a slice of the Lebanese market today, compared to about five following the end of the country’s 1975-90 Civil War, and about 15 in 2004. “The fact that the monks have been very enterprising and have blown the Maronite cross onto each bottle will give that added cache both to people here and abroad,” said Michael Karam, who authored an award-winning book on Lebanese wines in 2004 and is working on a new guide coming out later this year. “This is a wine that has improved a lot in the last six years, and it is a wine that will have a huge following among the Lebanese diaspora, who tend to be nostalgic for all things related to this country,” Karam told AFP. “People will be drawn to it because it’s got a unique story, and everyone likes a story behind a bottle of wine.”

Participation in Libya summit 'would offend Lebanese'
Daily Star staff
Thursday, February 11, 2010 BEIRUT: The Higher Shiite Council said Wednesday Lebanon’s participation in the coming Arab League summit would offend the feelings of the Lebanese and violate Lebanese laws. The council held its annual assembly and concluded, among other things, that Lebanon’s participation on any level in the Arab League summit in Libya would disregard the feelings of the Lebanese and violate the judiciary and its laws. Many Lebanese hold Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi responsible for the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr, a Lebanese Iranian political figure, and his companions in 1978. The council also concluded that escalating Israeli threats against Lebanon and Syria reinforced Lebanese unity. It urged the Lebanese government to consider the resistance as a force complementary to the army in defending and protecting the nation. – The Daily Star

Hariri will no longer sponsor Antonine University conference after its director’s insult
February 11, 2010 /Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s media office issued a statement on Thursday that he will no longer sponsor a conference on Lebanese premiership at the Antonine University after one of its directors insulted him as well as the cabinet. The university employee made offensive comments on the February 14 commemoration of former PM Rafik Hariri’s assassination, ex-Premier Salim Hoss as well as Hariri, said the statement. It added that the situation should be rectified. Several ministers, including former PM Fouad Siniora, and other MPs reportedly withdrew from the conference following the incident. -NOW Lebanon

Aridi: Ethiopian airliner crash unlikely to be result of sabotage
February 11, 2010 /Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said the January Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crash is unlikely to be the result of sabotage during a press conference Thursday at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport. He added that the plane was functioning properly until it plunged into the sea.
He commended the work of the airport employees, particularly that of the air-traffic controllers, saying they performed their duties to the fullest.
He reiterated that the data gathered from the black boxes will be the only way to find the reason behind the crash, but, he added retrieving data from the devices needs time.
“We should safeguard the secrecy of the investigation in order to preserve its credibility,” he told the press.
Aridi confirmed reports that the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) was missing from the second black box, which was retrieved on Wednesday, adding the Lebanese army is still searching for the device. He said that the pictures taken of the plane wreckage show that the plane parts are not all in the same place and that some of them have been left underwater upon the investigation committee’s request. “We do not need to pull out all the parts,” he said. However, he added they will be retrieved if the insurance company covering the plane or Ethiopian Airlines want them to be. Aridi thanked the countries who helped in the search operations, adding that he opposes the policies of the US, which sent a search vessel, “but we should not mix [politics with the accident].”
-NOW Lebanon

The West should help Iran go “green”
Nadim Koteich , February 11, 2010
Now Lebanon/
An image grab taken on February 11, 2010 from Iran's official Press TV station shows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressing tens of thousands of supporters gathered in  Does the Green Movement in Iran want or need foreign support? This has been a central question for western politicians, intellectuals and pundits. “Hell no,” declared Hooman Majd, a New York- based writer and author of “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ”. In a long piece he wrote for the magazine FP, Majd – who advised and interpreted for two Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on their trips to the United States – wrote that, “Lacking relations with Iran, Obama can do little to help the Green Movement, but plenty to hurt it. Coming out squarely on the side of the opposition in Iran is likely to undermine its credibility, and perhaps even lend credence to the government’s assertion that the movement is a foreign-inspired plot that will rob Iran of its independence.”
This conventional argument, to which Majd poorly subscribes, is that the US is a kiss of death and that the demise of any political or mass movement is guaranteed should it receive the support of Washington.
I disagree. Like the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who took to the streets on March 14, 2005 in the aftermath of the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to liberate their country from the Syrian occupation and its Lebanese security protégés, I always longed for the support of the West.
It was a moment of deep tragedy in my country, but not of despair. We knew that we were on the verge of a new phase and that our pain was the birth pangs of a new Lebanon.
“We are not alone in this world anymore; we need to withstand,” one of the leaders of the Cedar Revolution said back then. It was a slogan meant to encourage a skeptical audience, who for decades suffered from the consequences of being let down by world powers. We wanted to believe that we weren’t alone and wanted the world to hear our voice.
That day, March 14, 2005, local newspapers carried a very telling short story. Jeffrey Feltman, then-US ambassador to Lebanon, wrote back to his bosses in Washington that the best they could hope to accomplish would be to get the Syrians to withdraw their troops to the Bekaa Valley in accordance with the Taif Accord. It was way less than what we would demand hours later. Even Feltman, and Washington behind him, failed to capture the essence of what was set in motion in the aftermath of the Hariri killing.
However, our resilience, courage and dedication got the attention of the world, and it was this attention that helped us accomplish goals beyond the expectations of the international community. The rest is history.
To the contrary, just over three years later, in early May 2008, when Hezbollah and other pro-Syria militias brutally invaded Beirut and parts of Mount Lebanon, we suffered the bitter feeling of abandonment. George W. Bush was in Texas celebrating the marriage of his daughter while the best the State Department could come up with was expressing worry about the tourism season in Lebanon. It was a lame duck Washington with a tired president on the way out.
Hence, it was not the support of Washington that harmed the Cedar Revolution, rather it was the lack of this support that inflicted the damage, leaving behind a vacuum that was filled by players like Qatar and Syria.
Now back to Hooman Majd. As in Lebanon, the brave women and men of the Green Movement aspire to be heard and supported. That is the very basic reason why they use social networks like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others to tell of their experiences on the streets of Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz and others places. Majd needs to ask himself what audience these brave Iranians are aiming at and why.
And like us in Lebanon, the women and men of the Green Movement put the international community and its commitment to liberal ideals to the test. On November 4 of last year, they introduced a chant that defies Majd’s entire logic. “Obama, Obama either with them or us,” Green Movement supporters chanted. It made headlines all over the world.
If anything, the chant reflects the urban sophistication of those taking to the streets of big Iranian cities and their consciousness of the vibrant debate on democracy, freedom and civil liberties, as well as of Washington’s central contribution to it.
It is the opposite profile of the Green Movement presented by Majd, and it is insulting and patronizing for him to suggest that without foreign help or support the Green Movement cannot be successful, that Iranians on their own are incapable of commanding their own destiny.
Majd’s argument in favor of preserving the credibility of the Green Movement by depriving it of any sort of practical support would have been taken seriously hadn’t the Iranian regime already bestowed the traitor label on each and every member of the opposition. Ironically enough, Majd himself attests to this fact. “The most potentially damaging accusation the government has made against the Green Movement is that it is a foreign plot to foment a velvet or color revolution that will once again render Iran subservient to a greater power,” he wrote.
In fact, Ahmadinejad and his messianic cult didn’t really wait long to start up the mass character assassination. One week after the demonstrations Khamenei used his televised Friday prayer speech to throw his lot in with Ahmadinejad and lash out at opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
He ordered his political opponents to “open their eyes” and see that behind the demonstrations were “the enemy hands working, the hungry wolves wait[ing to] ambush.” He went as far as to blame the deaths and violence of the previous week on “ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for the espionage machines of Zionism and Western powers.”
However, Majd writes that the accusations “have not stuck because the movement’s leaders have always eschewed any foreign support and framed their fight as a purely Iranian one.”
I wish he were right. Nevertheless, these accusations are so enduring and powerful that they were a pretext for the hanging of two activists two weeks ago, while prominent pundits, activists and politicians rot in the prisons of the Valey-e-Fagih.
In a misleading twist of reality Majd writes the following: “The idea that foreign support is either necessary or important to the Green Movement’s ability to achieve its goals is as preposterous as imagining, say in 1965, that overt Soviet support of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States was necessary for that movement to be successful.”
Few comparisons could be as farfetched as the above.
The Civil Rights Movement was about fundamental issues of freedom, respect, dignity, and economic and social equality, most of which were the very values that the Soviet Union opposed.
However, when people in the streets of Iran try to set their system accountable for stealing their votes and rally in favor of more freedom and civil rights, they call on Washington for help. And when Washington rushes to support them it is simply living up to its values and duty as the beacon of hope and liberty.
Like the Lebanese before them, Iranians are in need of all the support they can get. Their bravery, commitment and quest for a better life deserve to be embraced by those who stand on the right side of history.
If we followed Hooman Majd’s suggestions, we would only be lending the Iranians to the fate of the Hungarians and Czechoslovakians who in the 1950s and 60s were, simultaneously, crushed by Stalinist governments and troops from the Warsaw Pact nations under the nose of Western powers.
Iranians long for a better future and they deserve the West’s support.