LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust
09/2010
Bible Of
the Day
Mark 10:31/"But many who are
first will be last, and the last first."
Today's Inspiring Thought: God Versus the World
In this world, power, prestige and position count for much. If you've ever felt
inferior because you don't have an impressive job or car, take heart. Riches do
not make a person important in the eyes of God. He knows the real person, the
real you. When you get to heaven, you'll be rewarded not for how successful you
were on earth, but for how loyally you served God here. Choose eternal rewards
over this world's passing pleasures. Our highest mission is to obey God, not the
whims of our society
Free Opinions, Releases,
letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Lebanon: Hezbollah's way/By
Mohamad Bazzi/August
08/10
Israel needs to rethink its
Lebanon policyBy Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff /Haaretz/August
08/10
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for August 08/10
Iran vows to support Lebanon
against Israeli aggression/Ynetnews
Israeli Knesset member Avi Dichter:
Nasrallah’s statements aim to distract public and media/Now Lebanon
Fadlallah: Israel is the main
beneficiary from Rafik Hariri’s assassination/Now Lebanon
Nasrallah to Reveal Secret Dating
to 1993 over Why Moughnieh's Name is Being Linked to Hariri's Assassination/Naharnet
Lebanon to Contact U.N. over 4
Border Points South of Blue Line/Naharnet
Jordan's King Abdullah Sends
Message to Assad on Israel's Threats and Attack against Lebanon
Carlos Slim Helu, the World's Richest Man bought a New Mansion worth $ 44
millions/Forbes
A brushfire
or a spark for conflict?/Jerusalem Post
Al Bayan: FPM official
provided Israel information about
Hezbollah/Ya Libnan
Tensions Flare Along
Israel's Borders/NPR
Ahmadinejad to Visit
Lebanon after Ramadan/Naharet
Zahra: Hizbullah
Exploiting Media Leaks, Should Have Presented Evidence Implicating Israel/Naharnet
Israel Fires Warning Shots
towards Lebanese Boat/Naharnet
Baroud: Cabinet Will
Continue Studying Suleiman's Proposal on the Army's Armament/Naharnet
Hariri Investigation
Responds to Reports that Arrested Officer Charged with Spying for Israel Forged
Security File/Naharnet
Alloush Denies Imminent
Hariri-Nasrallah Meeting/Naharnet
Israeli Violation of
Lebanese Territorial Waters/Naharnet
Senior Telecom Ministry
Employee Prosecuted for Spying/Naharnet
Sources Close to Berri:
Efforts to Keep Calm in Lebanon Accompanied by Fierce Diplomatic Battle with
Israel/Naharnet
Jumblat to Hold Very
Important and Secretive Meeting Today with PSP Officials/Naharnet
Ogero Rejects Israel Spy
Accusations/Naharnet
BlackBerry in Deal to
Avert Saudi Ban as Lebanon yet to Reach Decision/Naharnet
Adwan: Differences with
Jumblat Doesn't Mean We Will Part/Naharnet
2 Incidents Prompt
Lebanese, Israeli Troops Alert/Naharnet
Hof in Beirut Monday/Naharnet
3 High-Ranking State
Employees Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Israel/Naharnet
Asarta Stresses Solid
Cooperation with Army: Tragic Incidents Should Remain Isolated/Naharnet
Hariri Investigation Responds to Reports
that Arrested Officer Charged with Spying for Israel Forged Security File
Naharnet/The daily Ad Diyar reported Sunday on speculation that an officer
arrested on charges of spying for Israel had forged a security report related to
telecommunications that are linked former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's
assassination. Information close to the international investigation in Hariri's
case have meanwhile revealed that it is difficult to forge telecommunications
affairs because the investigation committee possesses the necessary equipment
that allows it to uncover voice fingerprints. Beirut, 08 Aug 10, 10:12
Alloush Denies Imminent Hariri-Nasrallah Meeting
Naharnet/Mustaqbal Movement member former MP Mustapha Alloush denied Hizbullah
sources statements that a meeting between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and
Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is imminent. He also said
that it is "suspicious" that it has evidence in former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri's assassination and that it would keep it hidden for five years. Beirut,
08 Aug 10, 10:17
Israel Fires Warning Shots towards Lebanese Boat
Naharnet/Israel's navy on Sunday fired warning shots towards a Lebanese fishing
vessel in the Mediterranean, a military spokeswoman said.
"Warning shots were fired after a Lebanese fishing boat entered a closed zone,"
she said without confirming whether the boat had entered Israeli territorial
waters.
After the shots were fired, causing no damage or injuries, "the Lebanese boat
changed course," she added.
Relations between the two countries have been particularly tense since Tuesday
when Israeli and Lebanese troops clashed along the border, in a deadly exchange
of fire which killed two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, as well as an
Israeli officer. The standoff was sparked when Israeli troops tried to cut down
a tree on the border, prompting the Lebanese to open fire towards them.(AFP)
Beirut, 08 Aug 10,
United by hate for Israel
By: Hagai Segal
Ynetnews
Op-ed: Effort to catalogue our enemies needles; they all share anti-Semitic
desire to expel us
08.06.10, 14:58 / Israel Opinion
An old routine prompts us, after every hostile act at any hostile front, to
invest great efforts in resolving the question of responsibility for the attack:
Who did it this time?
The smoke was still billowing Monday morning at the bleeding rocket landing
sites in the Gulf of Eilat when radio announcers ruled – based on God-knows-what
– that the attacks were the work of Global Jihad, rather than some bored Bedouin
in the Sinai or the Gaza-based Hamas. A day later the fire resumed in the north,
prompting our defense establishment to immediately point an accusing finger at
some newly appointed division commander in the Lebanese army and explain to us
that Nasrallah is currently preoccupied with the findings of the Hariri
assassination report and has no time for trivialities. Simultaneously, we saw
the emergence of a fascinating debate on the question of whether Hezbollah is
slyly penetrating the Lebanese army, or whether the Lebanese army is growing
more radical all by itself. Meanwhile, the ongoing Qassam attacks targeting the
western Negev repeatedly reignite a similar discussion: Was it a Hamas or
Islamic Jihad missile? Was it the work of the global al-Qaeda or local terror
cells?
Same clenched fist
We are eager to convince ourselves that there is some kind of order and logic in
the regional abuse we suffer; we aspire to draft an accurate map of threats,
while repressing the rather homogenous makeup of Israel hate in the Middle East.
Yet this is ridiculous. From a military standpoint, it may be important to know
exactly who fires at us each time and where he lives. However, in terms of the
essence of the issue we can spare ourselves the effort. The despicable people
who bombed Eilat and the archenemies who killed the battalion commander on the
northern border are merely different fingers in the same clenched fist. All of
them hate us equally. As result of propaganda constraints, they adopt different
pretexts for their attacks, yet the overwhelming majority among them are driven
by an anti-Semitic desire to permanently expel us from our country. They don’t
want us in Eilat, or in a northern border community, or in Ashkelon, or in Gush
Etzion. The time has come to accord all of them the same treatment, in order to
minimize the chances of them ever celebrating our defeat in a jointly organized
party.
Iran vows to support Lebanon against
Israeli 'aggression'
Ynetnews/Foreign Minister Mottaki says Israel reached dead end, 'Zionist regime'
desperate in joint press conference with Lebanese counterpart
Dudi Cohen Published: 08.08.10, 15:02 / Israel News
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Sunday that the Islamic
Republic will stand by Lebanon and Syria should Israel attack them.
"The Iranian government and nation are willing to support Lebanon and Syria
against any possible Israeli aggression," Mottaki said in a joint press
conference in Tehran with his Lebanese counterpart Ali Al Shami. Referring to
the border incident which killed Brigadier-General Dov Harari and five Lebanese
citizens Mottaki stated that the three countries hold ongoing discussions on
Israel's war threats and noted that Iran would offer any help required by
Lebanon and Syria. He condemned the border skirmish and said that "the Zionist
regime's steps and recent aggression show that this regime is desperate more
than it seeks to demonstrate its power." He further added, "Israel is trying to
save itself from the dead end it has reached…Should it forsake the path of war,
terror and aggression one day – it will cease to exist." Mottaki noted that he
does not think a possibility of war in the Middle East is likely but that the
region's states would not allow Israel to continue with its "hit and run
policy."Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei's
political advisor, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two issued a
statement saying: "The Islamist resistance in Palestine and Lebanon is the only
way to handle the Zionist regime's greediness." Velayati expressed Iran's
support of Hezbollah. He has already met Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan
Nasrallah and is slated to meet with the heads of the terror organizations in
Damascus.
Israeli Knesset member Avi Dichter: Nasrallah’s statements aim to distract
public and media
August 8, 2010 /-NOW Lebanon/Israeli Knesset member Avi Dichter told Voice of
Israel (VOI) on Sunday that Hezbollah General Secretary Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah’s statements aim to distract the public and media from accusations
that Hezbollah members are behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri.
Nasrallah said last Tuesday that he will reveal during a press conference on
August 9 irrefutable evidence proving that Israel was behind the assassination.
“A confrontation with Israel serves neither Israel nor Nasrallah,” Dichter
added.
Fadlallah: Israel is the main beneficiary from Rafik Hariri’s assassination
August 8, 2010 /Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hassan Fadlallah said on
Sunday that Israel was the main beneficiary from the 2005 assassination of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Fadlallah also said that Israeli collaborators in Lebanon should be severely
punished by the authorities, calling on security forces to enhance their efforts
to uncover all collaborators. Brigadier General Fayez Karam, who is also a Free
Patriotic Movement official, was the last man to be arrested last Tuesday on
suspicion of collaborating with Israel. Police have arrested several suspects
over the past month in an expanding probe into an alleged network of Israeli
spies employed in the country's telecom sector.
-NOW Lebanon
Zahra: Hizbullah Exploiting Media
Leaks, Should Have Presented Evidence Implicating Israel
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra noted Sunday that those who are trying
to anticipate the indictment in former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's
assassination based on media leaks are trying to target the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon's credibility. "We cannot attack the STL unless we have concrete
information," he told Kuwaiti paper Al-Rai. He also wondered why Hizbullah
leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah refrained from presenting the evidence
implicating Israel in the assassination. "Hizbullah is exploiting the Israeli
leaks in order to refuse cooperating with the STL," said Zahra. The MP also
pointed out that Hizbullah chose to launch its campaign against the STL
simultaneously with the discovery of spy networks in Lebanon. Beirut, 08 Aug 10,
09:24
Lebanon to
Contact U.N. over 4 Border Points South of Blue Line
Naharnet/The daily Al Hayat reported Sunday from official Lebanese sources that
Beirut is set to contact the United Nations over how to deal with the four
border points south of the Blue Line that the country seeks to restore from
Israeli control without resorting to force. The sources also indicated that the
Israeli campaign against the armament of the Lebanese army has so far fallen on
deaf ears of the western sides concerned with supporting the army. They revealed
that Lebanon is set to receive a number of Russian military helicopters and that
talks are also ongoing with France over providing Lebanon with new helicopters
and missiles. Beirut, 08 Aug 10, 09:07
Jordan's King Abdullah Sends Message to Assad on Israel's Threats and Attack
against Lebanon
Naharnet/King Abdullah of Jordan sent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an oral
message on "Israel's ongoing threat and recent attack against Lebanon and the
Gaza Strip," reported SANA Sunday. The message was delivered by Jordanian
Foreign Minister Nasser Jawda and tackled bilateral ties, as well as the latest
Arab and regional developments.
Beirut, 08 Aug 10,
Baroud: Cabinet Will Continue Studying Suleiman's Proposal on the Army's
Armament
Naharnet/Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said that Cabinet is set to discuss
President Michel Suleiman's proposals over the army, which he launched during
his trip to southern Lebanon on Saturday. The minister told the daily An Nahar
Sunday that Suleiman's statements stress granting the army sufficient equipment
and weapons to bolster its position in the country.
"The army cannot be punished in any way whatsoever for performing its duty of
defending the border and the nation," said Baroud. Beirut, 08 Aug 10, 09:44
Adwan: Differences with Jumblat Doesn't Mean We Will Part
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said Saturday there were attempts at
pre-empting the international tribunal indictment. "No one can claim that he
knows the content of the (court) ruling," Adwan said. "No international tribunal
allows itself to discuss details of its decision," he said during the annual LF
dinner in Damour. "An indictment is based on facts. No one in Lebanon want to
accuse an individual or a group or a party, "he stressed. Adwan said that anyone
who has a "problem with the Court should have to wait for the indictment to come
out and then study the facts and evidence." Beirut, 07 Aug 10,
Al Bayan: FPM
official provided Israel information about Hezbollah
August 7, 2010 /Al Bayan
A Lebanese internal security source has reportedly told UAE’s al Bayan newspaper
that the spying activity of FPM official retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam
was mainly political and not security information , Lebanon Files has
reported…According to al Bayan sources Karam also provided Israel with specific
information about Hezbollah .
Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun is closely associated with
Hezbollah
Karam and Aoun went into exile in France following Aoun’s defeat by the Syrian
army in 1990 and both returned to Lebanon in May 2005 , 11 days following the
withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon. The sources also reported that
questioning continues and 2 or 3 more days may be required considering that
Karam is a senior member of FPM.
The source denied that Karam was arrested at the airport as was reported on
Wednesday . Most of the leaks about Karam’s investigation are coming from the
pro-Hezbollah/ Syrian media. Hezbollah’s Al Manar reported that Karam has
admitted to spying for the Mossad and unveiled that he began collaborating with
Israel in the early 1990s.
The pro-Syrian newspaper As-Safir reported on Friday that the Intelligence
branch of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) has been investigating Karam’s
crimes since 2007.
Israel
needs to rethink its Lebanon policy
In the wake of this week's flare-ups of hostilities in Lebanon and in the south,
Israel would do well to reconsider its assumptions about the IDF's power of
deterrence.
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff /Haaretz
The border incidents this week - in the north, and to a lesser degree in Eilat
and the area around Gaza - called into question Israel's operating assumptions
during the past four years, since the end of the Second Lebanon War. The
relatively low number of casualties, as well as intelligence information
indicating the Lebanese Army was responsible for the gunfire in the north,
enables the Israeli leadership to keep claiming that what happened this week
does not necessitate serious reconsideration of its policies. Even after these
latest incidents, the prevailing trend this summer - of maintaining relative
quiet despite mounting tensions - still appears intact. But these incidents,
particularly the Lebanese sniper fire that killed reservist battalion commander
Lt. Col. Dov Harari near Misgav Am, raises the question of whether the stories
we've been telling ourselves about the Second Lebanon War and its ramifications
are still applicable in August 2010.
The Israel Defense Forces, according to conventional wisdom in the defense
establishment, employed such great force in the last two wars, in Lebanon in
2006 and in Gaza in 2008, that the Arabs were frightened off, and therefore
Hezbollah and Hamas are wary of another round. When GOC Northern Command Gadi
Eizenkot elaborated on this idea (in a much more sophisticated way ) at a
lecture at Tel Aviv University a few months ago, he was approached at the end of
his talk by former defense minister Moshe Arens. You're right, Arens told the
major general, but you forgot to mention the other side of the equation:
Hezbollah is also using deterrence - against us.
Ever since the Gaza flotilla affair in late May, there has been a bad feeling in
the region. Provocateurs of every stripe have discovered the potential for
diverting hostilities into unexpected channels. Fighting need not take place
just on the battlefield or under conditions chosen by Israel. Indeed, the
country's enemies have a whole array of reasons for starting a confrontation: to
prevent harsher sanctions on Iran; to escape the looming International Court of
Justice indictments against senior Hezbollah figures over the assassination of
former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri; or to provide a response to the
isolation Egypt is imposing on Hamas in Gaza.
On a small scale, there were confrontations already this week. Hamas opened a
new front against Israel by firing rockets from Sinai at Eilat. Meanwhile, the
Lebanese Army snipers ambushed IDF reservists removing vegetation along the
border, on the (false ) pretext that Lebanese sovereignty had been violated.
The report two days ago of an assassination attempt targeting Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems dubious. True, Iran is under pressure because of
sanctions and the American threat to use military force against it, but its back
is not yet against the wall and it has some room for maneuver. And yet, one
cannot be certain that all the players in the region will behave rationally. It
was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who admitted, in a rare moment of candor
at the end of the last war, that had he known that there was even a 1-percent
chance that Israel would respond with such force to the abduction of two
reservist soldiers, he would not have approved the operation in Lebanon.
In private army forums, Eizenkot often presents the following assessment: The
Second Lebanon War was a tactical failure that led to a strategic success, and
Operation Cast Lead was a tactical success that ended up as a strategic failure.
He is referring to the implications of the Goldstone report: The IDF's use of
extensive force amid Gaza's civilian population drew scathing international
criticism, which could tie the army's hands in the next confrontation.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Israel's deterrence appears to be eroding. A
significant part of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second
Lebanon War, has never been enforced: prevention of arms smuggling to Hezbollah
via the Syrian border. The incident on Tuesday also illustrated the weakness of
some of the resolution's other directives. The efficacy of the resolution relies
on the cooperation of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL, which deployed in the south
in order to block Hezbollah's presence there.
In this same vein, the photo of the week was taken by Agence France-Presse and
published two days ago on the front page of Haaretz: Lebanese soldiers firing on
the IDF as UNIFIL personnel in their blue berets look on without doing a thing.
This is precisely what Israel complained about to the UN years ago, especially
after UNIFIL personnel sat and watched as three soldiers were abducted from Har
Dov in October 2000.
Since the 2006 war, the Israeli public has been told that the army is on high
alert along the northern border, determined to demonstrate sovereignty over
every millimeter of its land so as not to abandon it to Hezbollah's
machinations. But this week, the shooting of the battalion commander who was
killed, and the company commander who was wounded, took place outside an IDF-protected
position. At first glance, it appears that the forces were deployed in a way
that did not indicate the IDF anticipated a shooting attempt. If this was a
deliberate, planned Lebanese ambush, why didn't the army have prior intelligence
about it?
After the incident, senior IDF personnel stated with full confidence that it was
a "local" initiative by some Lebanese army officers and that Hezbollah was not
involved. One would presume this assertion would be based on solid intelligence.
However, can it really be that Hezbollah recruited a Shiite Lebanese Army
officer, and the organization's activists in the field were not aware of this?
Just a week ago, when the Hariri assassination affair came up again, the IDF
discussed the possibility that Hezbollah might try to spark a flare-up on the
border.
It's also hard to ignore the fact that placing the blame (not just the
responsibility ) on the Lebanese Army is somewhat convenient for Israel. Thus,
perhaps, the IDF's measured and controlled response and avoidance of a wider
escalation may be enough. In any event, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not
keen to repeat the entanglements of his predecessor Ehud Olmert.
The words and the attack
IDF intelligence's blanket exoneration of Hezbollah ignores the fact that about
half of the soldiers in the Lebanese Army are Shiites, as are about a third of
the senior officers. In May 2008, a violent clash erupted between Hezbollah and
the anti-Syrian camp in Lebanon. Hezbollah started the violence, offering two
justifications: The Siniora government's decision to reject the organization's
requests to create an independent communications network throughout the country,
and to dismiss the Lebanese Army commander of Beirut airport security, Wafiq
Shqeir, who is considered close to Hezbollah.
"Shqeir shall remain as head of the defense system at the airport. The fate of
any other officer who tries to obtain that position is preordained, no matter
what sect he belongs to," Nasrallah announced. And the Lebanese government
backed down.
On Tuesday evening, Nasrallah wanted to talk about the unity of Lebanon, the
weapon of "resistance" and Hezbollah's firm determination in its struggle
against Israel. The following morning was the incident, which reinforced his
comments. In the hours after the shooting, the television stations in Lebanon
broadcast songs about national unity and "the country's army."
Even the Al-Mustaqbal station, owned by the Hariri family, took part in the
patriotic effort. The International Court of Justice was forgotten, and instead
hours of airtime were devoted to the heroism of the Lebanese troops.
The Hezbollah station Al Manar reported that the Lebanese soldiers received a
clear order to prevent any violation of Lebanese sovereignty - meaning, to shoot
at any more cases of tree-pruning next to the border. The A-Nahar newspaper,
which is also identified with the anti-Syrian camp, published a cartoon
depicting a hand emblazoned with an Israeli flag trying to cut down the Cedar of
Lebanon, and a second hand with scissors cutting off the Israeli hand.
Nasrallah, in his fourth speech in two weeks, immediately clarified who
Lebanon's real ally is, promising that his organization would defend the
Lebanese Army from any further aggression on Israel's part. At the end of this
speech, he promised another address, on August 9.
The Israeli response to that fourth speech came the next day: Prime Minister
Netanyahu - as if he too were being forced to hide in some bunker - distributed
a brief pre-recorded statement to the television channels. He recommended that
the Lebanese Army (in the north ) and Hamas (in the south ) try not to test
Israel's determination.
"We will continue to respond with strikes after every attack," Netanyahu
declared, but his comments sounded more like an effort of self-justification
than a threat. For the time being at least, Israel is choosing restraint.
Lebanon:
Hezbollah's way
Analysis: Lebanon's southern frontier with Israel is the most volatile border in
the Middle East today.
By Mohamad Bazzi - GlobalPost
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/lebanon/100806/lebanon-israel-hezbollah-war
August 7, 2010 / BEIRUT, Lebanon — Everywhere in the Middle East these days,
people are muttering about the possibility of war: between Israel and Hamas, or
Israel and Hezbollah, or Israel and Syria, or among bickering Lebanese factions.
Or may be this war will involve everyone.
What might set off such a catastrophic conflict? May be it starts with Israeli
soldiers trying to trim a tree.
That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday, when Lebanese troops fired on Israeli
forces who were pruning a tree along the border between the two countries. That
set off a series of skirmishes that killed two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese
journalist and an Israeli commander.
This clash, the most serious in four years, underscores why Lebanon’s southern
frontier with Israel is the most volatile border in the Middle East today, and
how easily a confrontation could spiral out of control. Western policymakers
must not shift their attention away from Lebanon, a small country that has long
been the staging ground of proxy wars in the region.
The latest fighting did not involve Hezbollah, the Shiite political party and
militia that has fought Israel for decades. But Hezbollah remains a central
player in the dangerous drama that is unfolding along the Lebanese-Israeli
border. When a pro-American coalition won Lebanon’s parliamentary elections last
year, a seductive conventional wisdom emerged in the West: Because Hezbollah and
its allies were defeated at the polls, the group would lose some of its luster
and a U.S.-backed government would rule Lebanon. In fact, Hezbollah remains the
country’s dominant military and political force. It holds the key to both
domestic and external stability, and its actions will help determine whether
there is another war with Israel, or if Lebanon will once again be wracked by
internal conflict.
In November, the U.S.-backed Sunni leader Saad Hariri was chosen as prime
minister after he agreed to share power with Hezbollah and its allies. But
Hariri’s government has no influence over the militia and its weapons buildup
along the border. As long as the Lebanese Army remains weak, Hezbollah can argue
that its fighters are needed to defend the country against Israel.
When Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, all of the country’s militias
were disarmed. But the government allowed Hezbollah to keep its weapons as
“national resistance” against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which
continued until May 2000. After the Israelis withdrew, many Lebanese asked why
the group did not disarm and become a strictly political movement. Hezbollah
insisted that its mission of resistance was not over because Israel was still
occupying a strip of land — called Shebaa Farms — at the murky intersection of
Israel, Syria and Lebanon. (The United Nations later determined that the area is
Syrian territory, not Lebanese.)
In July 2006, Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid,
setting off a 34-day war that crippled Lebanon’s infrastructure, displaced one
million people, and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, the majority of them
civilians. Since that conflict ended, both sides have been preparing for a new
round. Hezbollah leaders boast that the group now has an even larger and more
potent cache of missiles than it did four years ago. Israeli officials, who have
also escalated their war rhetoric in recent months, estimate Hezbollah’s arsenal
at between 40,000 and 80,000 rockets.
The basic problem is that Hezbollah sets its own military strategy and it makes
decisions that could lead to war without the involvement of the Lebanese state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to hold the Lebanese
government responsible for the militia’s actions. That puts Hariri in an
extremely difficult position and it will make him reliant on the Obama
administration to keep Israel at bay.
The border has flared up several times over the past year: two suspected
Hezbollah weapons caches mysteriously exploded, and Al Qaeda-linked groups were
blamed for two salvos of rocket fire into Israel from southern Lebanon. Under
the United Nations Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war, U.N.
peacekeepers are supposed to intercept illegal weapons shipments and raid
storage sites south of the Litani River. They have rarely done so. While
Hezbollah continues its arms buildup, Israel has also violated the U.N.
resolution with frequent overflights into Lebanese airspace and by planting
surveillance devices on Lebanese territory.
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah has an immediate interest in starting a war. Israel
is more concerned right now about Iran, although if Israel attacks Iran’s
nuclear facilities, the Shiite militia would likely be part of the Iranian
retaliation. As part of Lebanon’s new government, Hezbollah cannot afford to
instigate another war with Israel. But the danger of heightened rhetoric and a
military buildup is that minor incidents along the border could spiral out of
control.
By engaging Israeli troops this week, the Lebanese Army was trying to assert
government authority over the border. The army had not been in control of the
southern border since the late 1960s, and it only deployed there after the 2006
war. But the army’s action is largely symbolic because Hezbollah effectively
controls the frontier.
Still, the symbolism was not lost on Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah,
who quickly tried to portray the conflict with Israel as nationalist struggle in
which his militia and the Lebanese Army are partners. “The army guards the
resistance, and the resistance guards the army,” he said at a rally in southern
Beirut on Tuesday night. “The resistance will cut off any Israeli hand that
tries to harm the Lebanese Army.”
Nasrallah confirmed what most Lebanese already knew: Without a strong central
state that can defend itself, Hezbollah remains the most powerful force in
Lebanon — and its weapons guarantee that dominance.
**Mohamad Bazzi is a journalism professor at New York University and an adjunct
senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Carlos Slim Helu, the World's Richest Man bought a
New Mansion worth $ 44 millions/Forbes
by Francesca Levy, Forbes.com
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/article/forbes/1762/the-worlds-richest-mans-new-mansion
What you need to know about Carlos Slim Helu's record-breaking purchase.
If you stand on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and look
across the street, you'll have a small chance of glimpsing the world's richest
person.
Last month, Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim Helu, who is worth
US$53.5 billion, bought the Duke-Semans mansion, a beaux-arts townhouse directly
across from the Met, for US$44 million, public records show. That
record-breaking price is the most paid for any New York home in nearly two
years.
The mansion's seller, Tamir Sapir, famously ascended from taxi driver to
billionaire by trading in oil and then investing in real estate. He bought the
property from the descendants of its original owner, tobacco mogul Benjamin N.
Duke, in 2006, paying US$40 million. That leaves him with a 10% profit--healthy,
in a sluggish market.
Here's what's important to know about the sale, the home and how this
transaction will change luxury real estate.
The Duke-Semans is one of a kind.
Location is critical in ultra-high end Manhattan real estate, and the Duke-Semans
has a great one: The corner of Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, on New York's
vaunted "Museum Mile." But staking a claim to the right street (Fifth Avenue is
the Holy Grail) isn't enough to qualify for greatness. Buyers measure prestige
in feet--as in, how many of them a building occupies on a coveted block.
The Duke-Semans has everything going for it: It stretches up 82nd street for 100
feet (a luxurious distance, in this part of Manhattan), then turns the corner,
occupying 27 feet on Fifth Avenue. The combination of its unusual length, Fifth
Avenue visibility, and corner location can't be found in any other building.
That uniqueness is what allowed Broker Paula Del Nunzio, of the firm Brown
Harris Stevens, to originally price the home at $50 million.
But it might be a fixer-upper.
Samir reportedly intended to renovate the 19,500-square-foot house in the four
years he owned it, but never did. Although the exterior is breathtaking, the
house needs some work on the inside--a fact that helps explain Helu's 12%
discount off the asking price.
There's more evidence to suggest the mansion boasts a less-than-sparkling
interior: Brown Harris Stevens only provided press and prospective buyers with
detail shots of ornate moldings and period elegance, not the sweeping shots of
ballrooms, stairways and terraces that are typical for these kinds of sales. The
home may be in need of major work.
It was snapped up quickly.
Brown Harris Stevens put the Duke-Semans on the market in January. If it were a
normal home, stagnating on the market for nearly seven months would bode very
poorly for a sale. But in the rarified world of luxury real estate, where homes
fetch $10 million or more, it's expected that properties may languish on the
market for two or three years. Only a few thousand people in the world can
afford homes like this, so sellers expect to wait. The fact that the turnaround
was comparatively quick indicates wise pricing, and perhaps growing demand in
the luxury market.
The broker may not have gotten a cut.
After all her hard work representing the home, Del Nunzio may not have reaped
the reward of a handsome commission. It has been reported that Helu and Sapir
agreed to the deal privately. Del Nunzio told Forbes she could not discuss the
details of the sale.
Even if she was sidelined, Del Nunzio's carefully calibrated pricing strategy
may have been crucial to the home selling so quickly. Del Nunzio is known for
reading the market extremely well, and pricing homes as close as possible to
what buyers are willing to pay. As a result, she has logged $620 million in
sales of 40 townhouses since 2007, and her homes fetch an average 97% of the
asking price. That's impressive in an era where unrealistically priced luxury
homes have become notorious for slashing their prices as much as 40%.
In March she discussed her strategy for pricing homes with Forbes: "The right
price is a matter of the temperature of the times, also the recent comp sales,"
she said. "Each one is a separate instance at a separate time. We price them to
the highest level that we can, given the conditions of the market."
This is a sign that the high-end home market is stabilizing.
In the second quarter of 2010 the median sales price of a Manhattan luxury home
(defined as homes above US$3 million) rose 12% from the previous year. Demand
for these pricey abodes has ramped up, and inventory has tightened, according to
a recent report by Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
But even outside of New York, the super-high-end home market comprises so few
properties that just one sale can change the tide of the market. Aside from the
Duke-Semans, two recent sales give luxury brokers hope for the future:
In late April billionaire Kelcy Warren bought the 3,000-acre Bootjack Ranch in
Colorado for US$42 million, setting a price record for the year; just two months
later, the Bel Air mansion Le Belvedere was sold for even more, to an unnamed
European family.
"We see a stabilizing trend in the ultra-luxury segment, as high-net-worth
buyers pursue the very best properties at opportunistic price points," says Bill
Fandel of Peaks Real Estate Sotheby's International Realty, who handled the sale
of the Bootjack Ranch, via an e-mail.
Del Nunzio agrees, calling the sale "a signal that for the property possessing
the unique features a buyer wants, the buyer in today's market conditions will
not only pay as much as yesterday's buyer, but even more."
What does that mean for the rest of us? Unfortunately, not too much. Trends in
luxury real estate rarely correspond to the housing market at large, where
foreclosure and price statistics remain discouraging. But even if you'll never
be able to afford a treasure like the Duke-Semans mansion, take comfort that the
museum across the street allows access to the trappings of great wealth and
beauty--for as little as a penny.
A different type of prison break
Roumieh’s inmates metamorphosed by drama therapy
Now Lebanon
Aline Sara, August 8, 2010
It’s a sunny Thursday morning at the Roumieh Correctional Facility, the official
day for prison visits. Friends and family, moms, dads, senior citizens and
toddlers, slowly wind their way past inspection checkpoints with bags of
goodies, sometimes freshly-cooked meals, for their incarcerated loved ones.
Zeina Daccache, however, neither a friend nor a relative of any of the inmates,
waltzes through, stopping only to greet the guards and military officials, some
with a kiss on the cheek. “Shou?” says one of the guards with a smile. “They all
have their passes today?” he asks about the 32-year-old’s crew of psychologists
and drama therapy students.
Today, I have the privilege of being one of them.
The guard looks over our authorizations, and we shuffle in. The inmates look on
stoically as we make our way through the prison yard toward a space that more
resembles a theater backroom than an area in Lebanon’s most infamous,
overcrowded detention center.
Daccache, one of Lebanon’s few drama therapists and executive director of the
first-ever drama therapy institute in the region, Catharsis, is about to start
another session leading some 50 inmates through a day of storytelling, voice
work, role play and more. But this time, Daccache has a surprise for the group:
Sally Bailey, associate professor of theater and director of the drama therapy
program at Kansas State University, is in town for a four-day workshop, funded
by the Swiss-based Drosos Foundation. Bailey, who has mostly worked in the US
with recovering drug addicts, says that “Drama therapy creates that trust and
respect between people.” Though today she is working with convicts, she insists
there is no difference. “I see the same human connections. This training brings
them joy of life and encourages them to change.”
Daccache started a few years ago doing similar work in drug rehabilitation
centers in Lebanon and in Italy, where she met a famous theater director,
Armando Punzo. “A few months later, I woke up one day and decided, why not take
it to prisons here in Lebanon?”
Her first project ,12 Angry Lebanese, was a production adapted from the classic
American play 12 Angry Men. After 15 months of training, 45 inmates performed
before audiences that included Interior Minister Ziad Baroud. For Mother’s Day
in 2009, parents of the inmates were invited to watch the play.
“My sister in Michigan sent me an article that was published back there about
us,” one of the convicts tells me as I look over a collage of different articles
on the performance. “She is like an angel who has given me life again,” he says
of Daccache. “She has transformed my view on women, and what she did here, 100
men could not do. Women can fix what men have ruined.”
In the corner of the room lay stacks of books and audio players. “It’s like a
little study with literature books and music, novels by Khalil Gebran, other
famous writers, and music by Fayrouz,” explains Daccache’s cousin and assistant,
Lama.
Quotes are painted on the wall of the colorful room, including this one from
George Bernard Shaw: “Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that
cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind.” “The inmates painted
that,” explains Johny Tohme, one of the psychologists in Daccache’s group, as
the prisoners enthusiastically run up to greet us.
Now it’s time for the warm-up exercises, and everyone follows Bailey and
Daccache’s directions to sit in a circle on the floor for a concentration game.
Amid the friendly hustling as the inmates take their seats, I quickly forget I
am surrounded by a group of convicts in a prison where, two years ago, there was
a mutiny and hostage situation that lasted nine hours before being diffused by
the ISF. Now, there is not a single guard in the room. It really doesn’t seem to
matter.
After the session, Daccache tells me about her future plans, namely preparations
for another play, which will be showing in six months. Later, they will start
working with women in the Baabda Prison.
Although the training and the play must take place behind prison walls, Daccache
has given the outside world a glimpse of her work through 12 Angry Lebanese;the
documentary, with the support of the Italian Embassy in Beirut. The film, which
won Best Documentary at the 2009 Dubai International Film Festival, will be
showing at Empire Sofil Theater during the first two weeks of September.
“These guys revealed very deep things about themselves,” says Bailey of the
afternoon workshop, where the inmates wore masks, pranced around like ballerinas
and played out goofy scenes as part of the exercises. “Being silly together
helps them build this bond and this comfort,” she says. “They feel less alone,
and this helps them develop.”
Daccache’s work doesn’t stop there. Last month she launched special training
sessions for people who want to become specialized in the field of drama
therapy. Twenty-four participants were selected based on strict competitive
criteria.
Arab Majority Backs Nuclear Iran
Friday, 06 Aug 2010
The Washington Times
By: Benjamin Birnbaum
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Arab--Majority-Nuclear--Iran/2010/08/06/id/366783
A new poll shows that the percentage of the Arab world that thinks a
nuclear-armed Iran would be good for the Middle East has doubled since last year
and now makes up the majority.
The 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll found that 57 percent of respondents not only
believe that Iran's nuclear program aims to build a bomb but also view that goal
positively -- nearly double the 29 percent who thought so in 2009. The
percentage of those who view an Iranian nuclear bomb negatively fell by more
than half, from 46 percent to 21 percent.
The survey, conducted by University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami in
conjunction with the polling firm Zogby International, also found rapidly
diminishing support among Arabs for President Obama, who has made an outreach to
the Muslim world a key focus of his foreign policy. Those findings have been
reflected in other recent polls.
But the Arab Public Opinion Poll's findings on Iran stand in marked contrast to
the stances of most Sunni Arab leaders, who fear the regional implications of an
Iranian bomb.
“In my view, the Arab public position on Iran is largely a defiance vote or an
'enemy of my enemy' vote,” Mr. Telhami told the Washington Times.
Last month, The Times reported on unusually blunt remarks from the United Arab
Emirates ambassador to the U.S., who said he favored airstrikes on Iran's
nuclear sites by U.S. or Israeli forces despite the consequences for the region.
“If you are asking me, 'Am I willing to live with [the fallout from military
action] versus living with a nuclear Iran,' my answer is still the same: 'We
cannot live with a nuclear Iran,'“ Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba said during a
conference in Aspen, Colo.
A day earlier, the Times of London reported that Saudi Arabia had given Israel
tacit approval to use its airspace in the event of an aerial attack on Iranian
nuclear facilities. Officials from the kingdom vehemently denied the report, but
most observers suspect that some Arab leaders would quietly cheer an Israeli
attack, even if it generated riots in their capitals.
Iran repeatedly has denied that its nuclear program is devoted to anything but
producing energy.
“There is no love for Iran in most of the Arab world,” Mr. Telhami said. “They
fear Israel and U.S. foreign policy, so when we ask them, 'Name the two
countries that are most threatening to you personally,' they identify first and
foremost Israel and second the United States, and Iran is down on the list.
“So what happens is when they're angry with the U.S., as they are in 2010, you
find them more supportive of America's enemies,” he said. “In 2009, when they
were less angry with the U.S. and more optimistic about the Obama administration
and hopeful that something was going to happen in the next year, they didn't
want Iran to be a spoiler.”
Mr. Telhami conducted the survey from June 19 to July 20, surveying 3,976
respondents from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). The large sample gives the poll a margin of error of 1.6
percentage points.
“In the great majority of Arab society, the public has very little to say about
matters of national security and, being rarely consulted about such things,
people have little reason to think about these issues,” said Patrick Clawson,
director of the Iran Security Initiative at the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy. “It's quite possible for people to take positions which they might
well change if their opinions mattered.”
“If you were to ask people in the U.A.E., for instance, whether Iran should be
able to take over more territory in the U.A.E. -- not just the three islands it
now controls -- I doubt you'd find many people in the U.A.E. who think that's a
good idea,” he added.
“I just don't think that the problems associated with Iran having nuclear
weapons are very vivid for many of the people answering these polls whereas
their desire to show the United States and Europe that Middle Easterners can
stand up against Western pressure is very vivid,” Mr. Clawson said.
He cautioned that he was skeptical of Mr. Telhami's methodology and did not
necessarily invest a great deal of weight in the findings
Mr. Telhami, who has been conducting the poll since 2003, presented this year's
results Thursday at the Brookings Institution.
Among the findings:
* Mr. Obama's favorable ratings fell from 45 percent in 2009 to 20 percent this
year while his unfavorables nearly tripled, from 23 percent to 62 percent.
Similarly, the number of respondents who described themselves as “hopeful” for
the administration's Middle East policy declined from 51 percent to 16 percent,
while the ranks of the “discouraged” ballooned from 15 percent to 63 percent.
* Sixty-one percent of respondents cite the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the
issue with which they are most disappointed in the Obama administration, while
27 percent choose Iraq and 4 percent Afghanistan.
* Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 86 percent would support a
two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, in principle. The percentage who
would oppose it under any circumstances fell from 25 percent in 2009 to 12
percent this year. Those who believe a solution can be attained only through
negotiations outnumber those who favor war as the preferred means, 39 percent to
16 percent.
Amjad Atallah, co-director of the New America Foundation's Middle East Task
Force, said he viewed Mr. Obama's tanking favorables as a function of
frustration among Arabs over a lack of progress on the Palestinian question.
“People who are in love become much more angry when that love is unrequited than
people who never had much faith in someone to begin with,” he said. “I think the
Arab world never had much faith in the Bush administration, so if something good
happened, it was a pleasant surprise.
“With the Obama administration, it's the exact opposite. There was an intense
desire to be in love with this administration, and we haven't been able to
translate that into actual progress on the ground,” Mr. Atallah said.
“If you think about the only positive thing that's happened in the last year [on
the Israeli-Palestinian question], it's that the Israelis have rejiggered the
siege on the Gaza Strip,” he added. “But people don't give the United States
credit for that. They give Turkey and its diplomatic efforts credit for that.
They give the flotilla credit.”
The May 31 flotilla incident, in which nine Turks were killed aboard a
Turkish-flagged ship trying to run Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled
territory, appears to explain another poll result.
Asked which world leader outside their own country they admire most, the largest
percentage of respondents (20 percent) named Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, who took a hard line against his country's longtime ally in the
aftermath of the bloodshed.
Mr. Erdogan was followed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (13 percent,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (12 percent, Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah (9 percent), Syrian President Bashar Assad (7 percent), French
President Nicolas Sarkozy (6 percent) and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (6
percent). Mr. Chavez and Mr. Nasrallah both won the distinction in previous
years.
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