LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJanuary 27/2010

Bible Of The Day
Isaiah 10/1-4: " Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; 10:2 to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 10:3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? 10:4 They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still"

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
White House reacts to situation in Lebanon/By: Paige Kollock/January 26/11 
Middle East Genocide of Christians?/National Catholic Register/January 26/11 
The Lebanese Supreme Guide/Asharq Alawsat/January 26/11 
Is Hezbollah working with the drug cartels?//Examiner.com/January 26/11 
Lebanon's road to crisis/Telegraph.co.uk/January 26/11 
State-Backed Russian News Links Moscow Bombing to Call of Duty/New York Observer/January 26/11 
This is the Most Important Story: Lebanon Burns; America Snores/By Barry Rubin/January 26/11 
Nasrallah's Speech of Tuesday/January 26/11 
Lebanon’s False Choice Between Stability and Justice/By Michael Young/January 26/11 
Lebanon is more complicated/By:Hazem Saghiyeh/January 26/11 
Lebanon's new PM is not Hezbollah and not Iran/By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz/January 26/11 


Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 26/11 
Shalom: International Community should Prevent Hizbullah's Control on Lebanon /Naharnet
Mikati begins protocol visits/Now Lebanon
Hariri: Whoever killed Rafik Hariri in 2005 Doesn't Want Saad Hariri to be in Power /Naharnet
Miqati's New Government Faces Challenge of International Tribunal, Hizbullah Arms /Naharnet
March 14 Rejects Cabinet that Tolerates Arms, Aims at Abolishing Tribunal  /Naharnet
EU Urges Miqati to Seek 'Broadest Possible Consensus' in Forming Govt /Naharnet
US Launches 'Broad Review' of Assistance to Lebanon, Officials /Naharnet
Sleiman has not yet determined nature of upcoming cabinet, says source/Now Lebanon
Marouni: We will watch March 8 carefully/Now Lebanon
US urges Lebanese government to renounce violence/Reuters
Lebanon in Flames as Sunnis Challenge Hizballah Power Play/TIME
Lebanon protesters clash with army over new Hezbollah-backed PM/The Guardian
Lebanese Sunnis protest Hezbollah-backed PM/Washington Post
Clinton Wary of Hezbollah-Controlled Lebanon/VOA
Lebanon must publish the UN's finding on the Hariri murder case/Telegraph.co.uk (blog)
Nasrallah: New administration will not be Hezbollah government/Ynetnews
Batal to iloubnan.info :March 14 revolts tonight against Hezbollah arms/iloubnan.info
Ambassadors not a 'reward' for good deeds done/MidEastPosts (blog)
Hezbollah has emerged as Lebanon's real victor/Haaretz
Analysis: Concern, but also opportunity in Lebanon upheaval/J.Post
Unrest in Syria after two Kurds are killed by security forces/Kurdish Aspect
What's Next for Lebanon's Governing Coalition?/NewsHour
Lebanon calm after 2 days of protests/Washington Post
Saudi Editorialists Criticize Hariri Over Unrest /Naharnet
Aoun: The Sunnis will be with us Even if March 14 Boycotts Cabinet /Naharnet
Riyadh Advises Citizens Not to Travel to Lebanon Amid Measures by Arab, Foreign Embassies /Naharnet
Jumblat Denies Being Pressured to Name Miqati, Describes Faqih Rule Accusations as 'Political Dementia' /Naharnet
Nasrallah: The Greatest Lie is Accusing us of Seeking to Control State, Intimidating Miqati is Useless /Naharnet
Hariri Denounces Violence, Says Citizen Dignity More Important than Any Post /Naharnet
U.S. Says 'Hizbullah-Controlled' Govt Will Affect Ties with Lebanon /Naharnet
Sentence Challenged in leading Hizbullah Terror-Support Case /Naharnet
Miqati's New National Motto: Kulluna lil-Watan, Kulluna lil Aamal /Naharnet
Bellemare Appoints New Spokesperson /Naharnet
Mustaqbal: Way Miqati was Appointed Made Him Imposed on the Lebanese /Naharnet
STL Registrar Says Accused Names May Be Made Public in '6 to 10 Weeks' /Naharnet
France Calls on Miqati to Form Govt 'via Dialogue, without Interference' /Naharnet
Feltman to Paris Wednesday for Talks on Lebanon, Tunisia /Naharnet

Mikati begins protocol visits
January 26, 2011 /Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati began visiting previous premiers according to protocol at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, starting with former PM Rashid al-Solh in Verdun, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.Mikati also made a phone call to former PM Salim al-Hoss, who is in Saudi Arabia for medical reasons.
Hoss wished Miqati luck in his mission, according to a statement issued by the former’s press office.Later, Mikati visited Rabieh and met with Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun, who is also a former PM, the NNA reported. Mikati, backed by March 8, was appointed to the premiership on Tuesday, giving Hezbollah and its allies increased leverage in the country to the anger of many Sunnis. Hezbollah brought down outgoing premier Saad Hariri's government on January 12 after a long-running dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s probe of the 2005 murder of his father, ex-premier Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah had been pressing Hariri to disavow the tribunal, which it worries will implicate some of its members.
-NOW Lebanon

Sleiman has not yet determined nature of upcoming cabinet, says source
January 26, 2011 /“President Michel Sleiman has not yet figured out the nature of the upcoming cabinet,” an anonymous source told NOW Lebanon’s correspondent on Wednesday.
“Sleiman is waiting for the parliamentary consultations with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati to discuss future steps with him,” the source said. “Based on these discussions and consultations, Sleiman will then determine the nature of the upcoming cabinet.”Mikati, backed by March 8, was appointed to the premiership on Tuesday, giving Hezbollah and its allies increased leverage in the country and provoking widespread protests. Hezbollah brought down outgoing premier Saad Hariri's government on January 12 after a long-running dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s investigation of former PM Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination, which Hezbollah fears will implicate some of its members.
-NOW Lebanon

Marouni: We will watch March 8 carefully
January 26, 2011 /“We will watch March 8 carefully when necessary,” Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni said on Wednesday. “We will watch to see where Hezbollah is heading with its plan, and how much the others will surrender to its arrangements,” Marouni told As-Sharq radio. “We refuse to be false witnesses in a cabinet that is returning to Syrian and Iranian control,” the Kataeb MP added. “The Kataeb party is directly concerned with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) because of its two martyrs, [former Minister] Pierre Gemayel and [former MP] Antoine Ghanem.” Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, backed by March 8, was appointed to the premiership on Tuesday, giving Hezbollah and its allies increased leverage in the country and provoking widespread protests. Hezbollah brought down outgoing premier Saad Hariri's government on January 12 after a long-running dispute over the STL’s investigation of former PM Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination, which Hezbollah fears will implicate some of its members.-NOW Lebanon

White House reacts to situation in Lebanon
Paige Kollock, January 26, 2011
Now that Hezbollah has succeeded in deposing Saad Hariri and appointing a more sympathetic prime minister, the window for Western influence in Lebanon is rapidly closing. While the United States has signaled alarm over the recent developments in Lebanon, with State Department spokesman PJ Crowley saying the United States "would have great concerns about a government within which Hezbollah plays a leading role,” there is little it can do to stem the party’s increased power. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the emergence of a Hezbollah-controlled government would clearly have an impact on US-Lebanese relations, but what that impact would be, she didn't say.
Because the US considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, there could be a movement by some lawmakers to dub Lebanon a "terrorist state," much like Sudan, Cuba and Iran. Such a rebranding by the White House would likely lead to a halt of aid dollars. The United States has sent about $1.2 billion in economic and military assistance to Lebanon in the last five years, and the Obama administration has requested $246 million more this year. A block on aid to Lebanon would not cripple the country, but would certainly be a blow for the Lebanese Armed Forces and for many infrastructure projects that receive the money.
The resignation of Hezbollah-aligned ministers earlier this month, and the issuance of a draft indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon a few days later, have put Lebanon on a dangerous course in the eyes of the West. The Obama administration is on edge as it watches the country shift away from alliances with it and Saudi Arabia toward Iran and Syria.
But many in Washington had forecast such a denouement.
"I think the administration knew this was inevitable. The past two years have shown that they have not been particularly creative in terms of Lebanon or Syria," said David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "They don't want to be seen as being overly-involved or affiliated with the tribunal. The administration should be coordinating better with the Saudis. They should be talking to our friends in Europe about their relationship with Hezbollah. Instead, they've been relatively quiet."
As evidence of that, a State Department official who spoke to NOW Lebanon on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to talk about the situation, resorted to the familiar verbiage.
"We very staunchly continue to call for Lebanese sovereignty. We believe the work of the STL is going to continue, and all sides need to expect that and allow that to happen, without any interference inside or outside Lebanon. As for the government, we saw [the cabinet collapse] as a power play by Hezbollah. Hezbollah has offered that you can't have justice and stability, and we disagree with that," he said.
But in the face of violent protests across Lebanon on Tuesday, such insipid support leaves March 14 officials, particularly the newly-alienated Saad Hariri, wondering what happened to their allies, especially after Hariri paid a visit to Obama in America two weeks ago.
Scholar and author Walid Fares, who helped draft UN Security Council Resolution 1559, says some argue that Washington doesn't want to be seen as triggering yet another confrontation with Hezbollah and Syria in Lebanon, and thus it is limiting itself to strong statements but no actions. Others, meanwhile, believe that the US administration is disappointed that its own allies inside Lebanon partnered with Hezbollah in the cabinet.
The US is left with few options. Short of statements and trying to use regional allies like Saudi Arabia to arbitrate, which failed when Saudi announced it was "abandoning mediation efforts" in the crisis last week, the White House has its hands tied. With a war wrapping up in Iraq and an expensive and seemingly never-ending battle in Afghanistan, America is not about to get involved on the ground in Lebanon. Nor is it in its interest to do so.
"The US, France and the international community pressed Syria out of Lebanon in 2005 because they saw one million and a half people in Beirut calling for Syrian withdrawal and disarming of militias," said Fares. "Hence it is up to the leaders of civil society – in this case March 14 – to realize the change in the equation. They have to act as a democratic revolution defending itself against militias. Anything short of this won't trigger serious international backing."
There is one other diplomatic lever the Obama administration can pull. The new ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was sent to Damascus last weekend, making him the first American ambassador there since 2005 and therefore the symbol of American re-engagement with the Assad regime. The State Department said the timing was merely "coincidental," but Schenker believes otherwise. "They [US administration] needed to have a representative on the ground in Damascus when the balloon went up with the tribunal. They wanted to have somebody on hand to manage the fallout," he said.  If Hezbollah does not succeed in stopping the proceedings of the STL, which it can't because it is operating under international control, will it engineer another May 7, 2008-type scenario? Not likely, say analysts.
"The indictments will come out, the tribunal will issue arrest warrants. But no one will be arrested. Hezbollah will huff and puff, but who will they attack? Will they take the government down? They already did this once in May 2008, and it wasn't a great success for them. They suffered for it," said Schenker, who noted that Hezbollah's popularity is highest when at war with Israel.  Instead, the party will work to remold the government. "Hezbollah wants to form the new government in Lebanon as swiftly as possible, as smoothly as possible, so that the cabinet would be operational when the Special Tribunal for Lebanon renders its indictments," said Fares. "However if the March 14 coalition does not cooperate with Mikati [the newly-appointed prime minister], arguing that he is a puppet in the hands of Hezbollah, the latter will end up forming a non-representative government."
Therefore, it is in the hands of the March 14 coalition to give Hezbollah all the cards it needs or deny them, he says. But when March 14 looks around for support, who will be there?

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
January 25, 2011
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech on January 25, 2011, moments after Najib Mikati was appointed prime minister-designate:
“Brothers and sisters. On this occasion, I would like to say a few words regarding this occasion and the developments in the country and the region. Regarding the occasion, Arba’een [a Shia Muslim holiday marking the passage of 40 days following Imam Hussein’s martyrdom] is a reminder of Ashura.
God wanted the Resistance to be established in 1982 to destroy every US and Zionist project. The Islamic Resistance [was born] from the city of Baalbek to scream: Hail Hussein! Hail Hussein! We recall [the past] days when it was said that Israel beats everyone. We recall the days in which our [leader] Abbas Moussawi came out and wore military garb and called on men to take part in training camps and join the Resistance. Brothers and sisters, on the day of the resistant, we must address the [events] in the region. I hail the people of Tunisia who revolted and called for their rights and refused to be oppressed. We call on the people of Tunisia to unite and be aware [of dangers].
Yesterday, we heard that Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman visited Tunisia. This is a bad sign. There is a new US plot being made [in Tunisia]. This must be rejected, because when the US and this sorcerer Feltman comes, there will be destruction. People talks about [Gilad] Shalit [the Israeli soldier captured in Gaza] and forget about the Palestinian people.
We say on this occasion… that from day one, we believed in Palestine and its people, and we will keep on struggling with [them] and fight [against Israel].We aim to cooperate with each other to cross this dangerous phase.
We sought to resort to constitutional institutions [in Lebanon]. In order to face the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) indictment, we practiced our right and the [March 8] ministers resigned. Then we took part in consultations to name a new premier for the country. A few moments ago, President [Michel Sleiman] appointed former PM Najib Mikati as Lebanon’s new premier. The battle over the premiership consultations was very strong. I would like to tell you that many [foreign powers] interfered in it.
Imagine that US Vice President Joe Biden called one of the MPs to pressure them [to vote for outgoing PM Saad Hariri]. We have reached this result, and I have said that we understand the anger and feeling of [Hariri’s supporters]. But I want to say something, let’s suppose the results were vice-versa and [March 8] supporters took to the streets to protest, we would have witnessed a [US] and global campaign to label [March 8] as coup seekers.
However, because [March 14] is behind the protests, they have refrained from commenting on it. Why [does the West] respect the will of [March 14] and condemn the opposition? This proves that [the US] is only bound to political calculations and is backing one coalition [March 14] against the other. In all cases, today, there is a new opportunity. Threats against [Prime Minister-designate] Najib Mikati will be useless.
Some leadership groups who know what they are doing seem to have an experience in forging facts, starting with the STL, false witnesses, [and now a] new forgery. [March 14] wants to start saying that Mikati is Hezbollah’s candidate, but in the 2009 [Parliamentary Elections] he was running [on Hariri’s list]. Saying that Mikati is Hezbollah’s candidate is a sectarian provocation. In the last 48 hours, Mikati decided to run for premiership, so the opposition found in him an opportunity for Lebanon because March 8 did not want to enter in an battle [to abolish] March 14.The next PM will not be Hezbollah’s, nor will the next cabinet. This is only said to provoke [foreign powers] against Lebanon, [including] the US and Israel.
I wish for those to stop forging, because it will not yield results. We are not power seekers. Until 2005, [Hezbollah] did not take part in any cabinet.
We never asked for a ministerial portfolio. All we asked for [we did as a Resistance]. We did our best to defend the country and [liberate] its land.
We want two things from you: 1- Leave us alone, we do not want you to plot against us or backstab us. We are going to die in the South… but leave us alone. Let us be killed by gunshots pointed at our chest, not our backs. In the past years, what did [the Hariri cabinet] do for the North, Akkar, etc.?
People go sleep while we train because we believe that there will be transformations in the region, because we believe that the Palestinian people are at the riskiest of phases [right now].
Because since 2005, [March 14] went to Washington and made commitments and are plotting against the Resistance. You asked for the [2006] July War on Lebanon and today comes the STL project to get rid of the Resistance, but you will fail. The biggest forgery and lie is to accuse Hezbollah of wanting to control the country… and impose the Persian project.
This talk will not yield results. As for Hezbollah, we have a vision. We support Mikati and we ask him to form a national unity cabinet. We do not want a victor or a loser. Rejecting to take part in the next cabinet means that [March 14] wants to rule the country alone. We have a lot of problems regarding [March 14]’s fiscal projects. It is up to the Lebanese. If [we] do not seek to form a national unity cabinet, where are [we] taking the country?
The world does not have a time for you. Let us not waste time. Regarding the threats that the cabinet is being led by Hezbollah, what [do you think] Israel will do in Lebanon [afterwards]?
The army, people and Resistance of Lebanon [protect the country]. [All three] are there and ready. The balance of deterrence that [was created in Lebanon] by the Resistance protects Lebanon. The chance is there for anyone. Those who do not want to take part in the next cabinet should give Mikati at least a year.
But those who want to protest in the streets want to say: Me or no one else. You are asked to be wise, patient… Hussein will keep on calling for you to confront Israel and the US. We want to tell the Hussein that we will not be cheap in bloodshed. Hail Hussein. Hail Hussein.”

Hariri: Whoever killed Rafik Hariri in 2005 Doesn't Want Saad Hariri to be in Power
Naharnet/Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri believed that whoever killed his father does not want him to be in power. "Whoever killed Rafik Hariri in 2005 doesn't want Saad Hariri to be in power," Hariri said in an interview with the New York Times. "What's happening today is that they are trying to achieve what they wanted to achieve in 2005," Hariri said from Center House, a short way from Parliament headquarters. Hizbullah and its allies brought down Hariri's government January 12 after a long-running standoff over the U.N.-backed probe into Hariri's 2005 assassination. Hizbullah has said it believes some of its members will be indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Hizbullah has denounced the STL as part of a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy. President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday appointed business tycoon Najib Miqati as Lebanon's new prime minister. The New York Times said Hariri called himself "betrayed" after Hizbullah-backed Miqati was named PM. Beirut, 26 Jan 11, 10:11

Lebanon’s False Choice Between Stability and Justice
By Michael Young /Foreign Affairs
January 26, 2011
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/letters-from/letter-from-beirut
Over the years, Lebanon has managed to avoid getting to the bottom of its politically motivated crimes. Its 15-year civil war ended with an amnesty law, even though more than 100,000 people had been killed, including dozens of prominent political and religious figures, among them two presidents. Not surprisingly, with UN indictments for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri now approaching, the country is finding it difficult to deal with the possibility that, in this one case, the pursuit of justice might reach a firmer conclusion.
In the coming weeks, the United Nations' Special Tribunal for Lebanon is expected to confirm indictments against individuals who participated in the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others on February 14, 2005. Those indicted are expected to include Hezbollah members. The attack provoked mass demonstrations in Beirut directed against Syria, viewed as the likely culprit. By April of that year, Syrian forces had withdrawn from Lebanon; an anti-Syrian coalition won a parliamentary majority soon thereafter.
For Hezbollah, any outcome suggesting its involvement in Hariri's death could prove disastrous, as the mere accusation that its Shiite members facilitated the elimination of a Sunni leader might destroy the party's reputation and effectiveness in Lebanon and the Middle East. Hezbollah's secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, has tried to paint the tribunal as an "Israeli project," claiming that Israel killed Hariri and that, backed by the United States, Israel intends to use the institution to undermine Hezbollah's "resistance."
Facing what it sees as an existential threat posed by the indictments, Hezbollah had sought to force the now former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain leader, and his allies to sever Lebanon's official ties with the UN tribunal. Hezbollah hoped that Hariri's sponsor, Saudi Arabia, would compel the prime minister to take such a step as part of a months-long dialogue that Riyadh carried out with Syria, which, along with Hezbollah, has also sought to turn Beirut against the tribunal. The Saudis viewed such an agreement as a way of easing a Syrian political comeback to Lebanon; Riyadh prefers an Arab state calling the shots in Beirut to Iran controlling the government through its proxy militia, Hezbollah.
The negotiations ultimately broke down for a variety of reasons, including Hariri's reluctance to go along with any scheme that might weaken the tribunal. More important, the Obama administration intervened earlier this month to warn the Saudis against endorsing any such arrangement. Saudi Arabia ended its mediation, pushing Syria, with Hezbollah's approval, to hasten the Hariri government's downfall.
Syria's game plan is a complex one. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main objective is to restore Syrian hegemony over Lebanon. After 2005, Damascus was forced to watch as Iran became the dominant outside actor in Lebanon. Assad would like to regain that status -- but without confronting Tehran and Hezbollah. Syria sought to exploit its talks with the Saudis as a path back to preeminence in Beirut; but when that failed, the Syrians accelerated a government crisis in which the tension between Hezbollah and Hariri reached new levels, allowing Damascus to intervene and mediate a solution. Assad hopes to use such a process to extract concessions from both sides -- above all, the naming of pro-Syrian figures to key posts in the government and security agencies.
Might his plan succeed? Last week, the Hezbollah-led opposition declared that it refused to name Hariri and had enough votes to bring in Omar Karami, a pro-Syrian former prime minister. According to Lebanon's constitution, when a government falls, the president holds a poll with parliamentary blocs to see who has the most votes to form a new government. To achieve its majority, Hezbollah put pressure on Hariri's ally Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon's Druze community, to switch sides and name Karami. Most Sunnis decried this as an effort to eliminate Hariri politically. It was subtler than that: a Syrian bait and switch to bring in Najib Miqati, a more credible Sunni former prime minister with close ties to Syria. On Tuesday, Miqati got the nod, though the vast majority of Sunni parliamentarians had failed to back him. Sunnis throughout Lebanon immediately took to the streets to demonstrate against the decision, insisting that Hariri was the more legitimate communal representative.
Assad faces risks in such a scenario. Many Sunnis now regard Miqati as a renegade for having helped oust Hariri, and his ability to form a consensual cabinet will be impaired. Hariri has insisted that he will not join a cabinet imposed by Hezbollah, and Syria does not relish having to face a hostile Sunni population. In addition, a government favorable to Damascus will ultimately still be propped up by Hezbollah's guns, which means that Iran, not Syria, retains the final say in Beirut. Israel will be even more wary of such a government than it was of the previous Hariri-led team, heightening prospects for an Israeli military intervention in Lebanon, which could draw Syria into an unwelcome war.

Lebanon is more complicated
Hazem Saghiyeh, January 25, 2011
Although the subject of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is important (and no one doubts its importance), restricting politics to a single subject remains a dangerous oversimplification. Indeed, this exceptional restriction is contrary to politics itself. The subject of cabinet formation raises other issues, among them:
First, rescuing democracy (or what remains of it) from violence. This matter is astonishingly clear these days, as we hear that Saad Hariri’s winning the prime ministerial nomination will nullify the whole process and take us into the streets, while nothing like this will happen if the March 8 candidate is nominated! Worse than this, and more disgraceful, is the fact that we hear voices condemning Hariri’s mere candidacy for the post!
Surrounding the democratic political process with a guard of violence (and this is not the first time this is happening here, in any case) undermines all of Lebanon.
Second, distancing the democratic process from sectarian retaliation. We remember how commitment to “consensual democracy” was the broad slogan of the March 8 forces’ behavior in the past period, and how they branched out from this slogan into “vowing” to grant March 14 the “blocking third” in any cabinet formed by March 8.
Talk like this has completely disappeared today. The danger of this direction is that it will be interpreted directly in sectarian terms – indeed, its only interpretation will be sectarian. It is enough to remember that none of the Sunni figures whose names were discussed for ministerial portfolios in a potential March 8 cabinet were successful in reaching the parliament. This means that, if this direction is taken, the Sunnis will feel what the Christians felt before in the years of “marginalization” during the 1990s, or with the “Kataeb isolation” during the 1970s. This would poison the shared Lebanese life, or what is left of it.
Third, there is the economic situation, whose fragility is evidenced by the Central Bank’s recent interventions to support the Lira. There is Lebanon’s Arab and international relations, whose shortening in one direction can only lead to serious economic and non-economic consequences. As for the Israeli threat and any potential destruction it might cause, all Lebanese ought to have an opinion about it through their legitimate government: how we can prevent it, and how – in the event that prevention is impossible – we can unite and confront it. Whoever wins victory alone in imposing his point of view is only heaping up internal allies and further weakening his supposed national front. Thus the fleeting victory becomes the prelude to sure defeat.
Surely thinking about Lebanon is thinking about all of these matters, and perhaps others. Shortening time to one day alone opens the door to catastrophes in all of them.

Middle East Genocide of Christians?
Sarkozy speaks of a ‘cleansing.’ Are attacks on Christians in Islamic countries on the rise?
Share by DOREEN ABI RAAD
/National Catholic Register
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/middle-east-genocide-of-christians/
01/26/2011
 BEIRUT — Religious cleansing, genocide and outright extermination are terms now used to describe the plight of Christians in the Middle East, particularly following recent horrific attacks on Christians in Iraq and Egypt. While attacks on Christians in the Middle East are nothing new, the situation has escalated.
There was the Oct. 31 massacre in Baghdad’s Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation, for example, which killed 58 people, including two priests, and wounded 75.
Then, on Jan. 1, an attack on the Orthodox Coptic Church of the Saints in Alexandria, Egypt, killed 21 people and wounded more than 100.
“Christians are scared and are continuing to leave,” said Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq. “They want to educate their children with security,” he said, noting that even when their children are in school, parents are afraid about their safety. “They are very worried about their future.”
While there are Christians who want to stay in Iraq, the bishop said, they are feeling more vulnerable and afraid with each day and want to flee their homeland.
It is estimated that about half of Iraq’s approximately 1.4 million Christians have fled the country since the American invasion in 2003. The exodus has brought hundreds of thousands to neighboring Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, and most recently Turkey.
Archbishop Sako was instrumental in calling for the Synod of Bishops to address the plight of Christians in the Middle East, which they did this past October at the Vatican.
“Human bleeding is threatening the Christian presence in the area. It is a disaster that with their departure will go their history, heritage, liturgies, spirituality and witness,” the archbishop said of the descendants of the world’s first Christians.
Rise of Fundamentalism
In a Jan. 10 speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI quoted a message from the synod, saying Christians in the Middle East are loyal citizens who are entitled to “enjoy all the rights of citizenship, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and freedom in education, teaching and the use of the mass media.”
Religious leaders point to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism for the escalation of attacks.
Patriarch of Antioch for Syriac Catholics Ignatius Youssef III Younan, who was one of the two president delegates for the synod, explained, “With the rise of the so-called Islamic fundamentalism — we should rather say ‘violent fanaticism’ — in most of Arabic and countries of Muslim-majority around the world, non-Muslim minorities, especially Christians, have been the easy targets of terrorist attacks.”
It wasn’t always that way. Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir, who wrote the working document for the synod, characterizes the 1950s in Egypt, where he was born, as a wonderful era for the country’s Christians. “We were esteemed,” recalled the priest, who is founder of the Center for Documentation and Research on Arab Christianity.
Then came the Islamization of the country in the 1970s. Now Egypt’s Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of the country’s population of 80 million, are regularly attacked.
“Violence against Christians is something that happens every day and has as its aim to rid the Middle East of the Christian presence,” Father Samir wrote recently for the Rome-basedAsia News service. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, apostolic nuncio to Egypt, said that the Alexandria attack was a terrorist operation, and “the aim appears to be to destabilize the country — that is, to set Christians against Muslims.”Egypt’s constitution speaks about citizenship — but also about Islam as the necessary reference for all legislation, Archbishop Fitzgerald said. “This produces problems.” There is a distinct feeling of discrimination among Christians, in universities, in government service and in the access of Christians to seats in Egypt’s parliament, the nuncio points out. Moreover, obtaining permission for building or repairing churches is difficult, whereas mosques can be erected easily.
Not All of Islam
Yet religious leaders maintain that such violence has nothing to do with Islam as a religion.
Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, in a recent interview with CNN, characterized Islam as “a religion that promotes worshipping the goodness in life, worshipping God and being fair to others.”Melkite Catholic Bishop of Sidon, Lebanon, Elie Haddad said that “Islam is a religion of peace; otherwise, it’s not a religion.” In his diocese, which is 90% Muslim, he said, “I know people who are praying well and fasting well and helping well. You cannot distinguish between them, Muslims and Christians.”
“It’s not the whole Islamic world. Even these fundamental groups are rejected by the Muslims,” he pointed out.
Mohammad el-Sammak, a Sunni Muslim and secretary general of the National Committee for Islamic-Christian Dialogue in Lebanon, said, “Islamic religious teachings respect the religious right of Christians, whether in the Middle East or any place, because believing in Christianity as a message from God is a part of Islamic doctrine.”In his speech at the synod, Sammak said the emigration of Christians makes it difficult for the rest of the region’s Arabs to live their identity fully. “They (Christians) are an integral part of the cultural, literary and scientific formation of Islamic civilization.”
Chaldean Catholic Bishop Michel Kassarji of Beirut has said that international powers have ignored the pain of Iraqi Christians, who are perceived as an insignificant minority. “They are wary to address the issue of Christian minorities because of the extremely delicate situation in the vulnerable and volatile region, and especially given the rising wave of fundamentalism.”
While the White House, in a statement following the Egypt attacks, said, “The perpetrators of this attack were clearly targeting Christian worshippers and have no respect for human life and dignity,” the Obama administration was criticized for not using the words “Christian” or “church” in condemning the Oct. 31 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad.
France, which has had a historic interest in interaction with the Middle East dating back to the Middle Ages and the Ottoman Empire, was explicit in its condemnation of the Egypt attack.
“We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly perverse program of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a Jan. 7 annual address to religious leaders.
In the past, attacks against Christians in the Middle East hardly got any attention.
“Fundamentally, United States policies in the Middle East have never placed a significant priority on the conditions of indigenous Christians or the threats they have been up against just for being Christian,” Habib Malik wrote in his recently published book, Islamism and the Future of the Christians in the Middle East.
Said Malik, an associate professor of history and cultural studies at the Lebanese American University, “Now we see increased attention from the leaders and governments outside the region who have condemned these attacks because they fear that similar acts of terror now also threaten their societies.”
Next: Part 2 will focus on preserving the Christian presence in the Middle East.
Register correspondent Doreen AbiRaad writes from Beirut, Lebanon.

Profile: Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati
BEIRUT, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese business tycoon Najib Mikati was appointed by President Michel Suleiman as prime minster designate on Tuesday.
Najib Mikati is currently one of the representatives in parliament of the northern coastal city of Tripoli and a successful businessman.
Born on Nov. 24, 1955 in Tripoli, Mikati got a master degree in business from Lebanon's American University Beirut (AUB) in 1980.
In 1982, he co-founded a telecommunications company Investcom, a leading telecom family business which pioneered telephony in emerging markets and was later merged into MTN after its shares were listed on both the London and Dubai stock exchanges.
Najib Mikati began his political career in 1998, when he was elected for a seat in Tripoli, and appointed public works and transportation minister. He held the post in three consecutive cabinets until April 2005 when he became prime minister.
Mikati occupied the post of prime minister for 90 days, during which he prepared the country for the parliamentary election, held on May 31, 2005. He stepped down after the March 14 coalition won the May vote, securing 72 out of the 128 seats.
During his time in office in 2005, Mikati closely followed up international and local investigations conducted into Hariri's assassination and allowed international observers to monitor the parliamentary elections.
But Mikati's nomination by the March 8 coalition, headed by Shiite armed group Hezbollah, to head the next government sparked a wave of protests across the country, with the Future Movement of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri opposing his candidacy.
Mikati, who has close ties with Syria, was promoted as a consensus candidate. "We will be the symbol of moderation and national unity," Mikati told reporters following talks with President Michel Suleiman Monday.
Mikati is also a member of the "Beirut Pact," a socio-economic initiative working to improve the developmental standards of the country, while bringing its various regions into closer economic parity with each other and attracting investment.
He is married and lives in Lebanon with his wife and three children.
No country in the world has more political battles, military conflicts, and ethnic complexity per person and per square mile than does Lebanon. Continually for fifty years, it has seen crisis after crisis, often drawing in direct U.S. and international involvement. Most recently, Lebanon has been the scene of a civil war, wars with Israel, a popular mass movement that expelled Syrian occupation, terror, hostage-taking, assassination, and the struggle between allies of Iran and the West. This book explains the issues, events, and personalities involved in one of the globe’s most dramatic and important stories.

This is the Most Important Story: Lebanon Burns; America Snores
Wednesday, January 26, 2011/By Barry Rubin
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2011/01/this-is-most-important-story-lebanon.html
While the media is going wild over the ridiculous "Palestine Papers" deception, Hizballah is taking over Lebanon.
Fareed Zakaria, the wildly overrated American pundit, has invented a new term, referring to Hizballah as “a quasi-terrorist group.” What does this mean? It means that Hizballah runs in elections but then if it doesn't get its way it kills people. At least this is better than the president's advisor on counterterrorism and apparently chief expert on Lebanon who has explained that there is nothing to fear from Hizballah. It can't be terrorist, he explained once, because it has lawyers among its members. If we examine the Russian (can't last long), Chinese (“agrarian reformers”), and Iranian (don’t worry, the moderates will soon emerge; Khomeini can’t govern) revolutions we find rationales to explain that soon things will return to normal. There's no problem. But the historic result is decades of horror. Here's how Martin Gilbert, the British historian, put it: "At bottom, the old appeasement was a mood of hope, Victorian in its optimism, Burkean in its belief that societies evolved from bad to good and that progress could only be for the better. The new appeasement was a mood of fear, Hobbesian in its insistence upon swallowing the bad in order to preserve some remnant of the good, pessimistic in its belief that Nazism was there to stay and, however horrible it might be, should be accepted as a way of life with which Britain ought to deal."
Yes, "a way of life" that must be accepted. Just another cultural choice involving burqas, stoning, making life impossible for Christians and Jews, terrorism, and massive repression, and endless war, and the indoctrination of children to hate.
On the verge of an international investigation that will show Syria and Hizballah were involved in a dozen bloody terror attacks in Lebanon—and specifically the assassination of former prime minister (and leader of the opposition) Rafik Hariri, Hizballah provoked a government crisis. Then, winning over the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt (who sees that Iran-Syria are strong and America-West are weak), it may emerge as the strongest power in a new government.
"A prime minister chosen by Hezbollah and its allies won enough support on Monday to form Lebanon's government...culminating the generation-long ascent of the Shiite Muslim movement from shadowy militant group to the country's pre-eminent political and military force."
I believe the theme of his article a few days ago was that Hizballah is weak and no threat. This is a very sad day for Lebanon, the Middle East, the hope for peace and freedom, and Western interests.
Of course, Hizballah is not going to convert Lebanon into an Islamist republic. Why start a civil war with the Christians and Sunni Muslims. Just leave them alone in their territorial enclaves. But the Islamists and their partners will control the apparatus of state, foreign policy, and all the key decisions.
How did the leading Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat describe the situation? By saying that Iran will now control Lebanon.
The French government has accepted, even endorsed, this outcome.
What do you think the rest of the region is going to take away from this? America cannot or will not protect you. Islamism and Iran are the wave of the future. Submit or die. And that's even before Tehran gets nuclear weapons. The way things are going, maybe Iran doesn't even need them.
And where is the United States? Asleep. Determined to prove that it doesn’t throw its weight around, rationalizing a terrible defeat as insignificant, it hasn't even taken a stance. Now it's too late.
Last year, the United States and Europe accepted the secure establishment of a revolutionary Islamist state that is a client of Iran and Syria on the Mediterranean. This may be the year of seeing a second such state come into existence. Of course, the situation in Lebanon will be far more subtle and nuanced but in strategic terms it amounts to something very similar.
An American government that will put all of its resources into preventing the construction of apartment buildings in east Jerusalem can barely be roused to prevent the construction of an Islamist-dominated state in a country of tremendous strategic significance.
Rubin Reports: April 28, 2009: Here Comes Hillary; There Goes Lebanon."
Rubin Reports: June 4, 2009: "Hizballah Taking Over Lebanon? Don't Worry! Be Happy!"
Rubin Reports: June 15, 2009 "Watch developments in Lebanon carefully as the struggle to form a government is going to be critical. And will the United States and Europe support the March 14 coalition, or rush to "engage" Hizballah, steps which will strengthen the radical Islamist terrorist group, and its Syrian and Iranian sponsors?"
Guess what happened.
Rubin Reports, September 1, 2009: "Lebanon: A Sinking Ship that the Obama Administration has forgotten....Walid Jumblatt, once the lion of the moderate coalition, has now deserted it, thus weakening the anti-Hizballah, anti-Syrian, Lebanese nationalist forces that want to keep Lebanon independent,"
Rubin Reports, July 31, 2010: "Syria Marches Into Lebanon; Saudis Surrender to Inevitable; State Department Proclaims Victory."
Oh, here's the "funny" part. The New York Times, which a few days ago was preaching there was nothing to worry about, now discovers:
"But the symbolism of Hezbollah’s choosing Lebanon’s prime minister was vast, potentially serving as the beginning of a new era for a combustible country whose conflicts have long entangled the United States, Iran and Syria. A practical impact may be the realignment of Lebanon away from the United States, which treated the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri as an ally."
Wow! You mean the takeover of Lebanon by a revolutionary Islamist group, armed by Iran and Syria that wants to wipe Israel off the map and expel Western influence from the Middle East "may" move Lebanon away from the United States?
And three necessary remarks:
First, yes, the U.S. government treated Prime Minister Hariri as an ally. Unfortunately, in recent years the United States has treated allies very badly. And Hariri's people are now in serious trouble. Might that suggest something to other U.S. allies?
Second, how long will it be before the Times is writing the same paragraph about Turkey realigning "away from the United States."
Third, note how the United States, Iran, and Syria are all placed on an equal footing, being "entangled" in Lebanon's affairs. Well, Iran and Syria didn't just get dragged in. They got entangled in Lebanon's affairs like Britain became "entangled" in the affairs of Ireland and India, as an imperialist power spreading its influence and subordinating other states to its own interests.
UPDATE: US AND EU RESPONSE
And what is the Western response? The Europeans urged the “broadest possible consensus” in forming a government.
Response: Idiots! Aren’t you aware that Saad Hariri the opposition leader refused to join the government because he didn’t want to legitimize a Hizballah-controlled regime? You are undermining the pro-democracy forces and, of course, accepting the new regime.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got “tough”: "A Hezbollah-controlled government would clearly have an impact on our bilateral relationship with Lebanon."
You think? What kind of impact, pray tell? Well, have no fear as the Obama Administration has begun a review of U.S.-Lebanon relations. After all, nobody possibly could have thought this is where things were heading a year or two ago, right?
And while I know it is diplomatic-speak I can’t help but remark on what Thomas Vietor, a White House spokesman said: “"It is hard to imagine any government that is truly representative of all of Lebanon would abandon the effort to end the era of impunity for assassinations in the country.”
Hard to imagine? Well what if the leaders of that government were named as the ones who carried out those assassinations?
The administration's meetings to discuss on U.S. policy will be interesting. Some will say that the United States should engage Hizballah (or at least the government itself which thus allows the diplomatic fiction that the U.S. government isn’t engaging Hizballah).
Some will say the U.S. government should wait and see. Presumably, no one will suggest strong action.
By the way, consider the bizarre world we live in. The mission of the UN-mandated and U.S.-backed UNIFIL force’s mission is to keep Hizballah from returning to the south and reestablishing their military positions there, to keep Hizballah from getting smuggled arms from Syria, and possibly--with cooperation from the Lebanese government—to help disarm Hizballah.
But now Hizballah IS the government for all practical purposes. Presumably it won’t cooperate in punishing itself.
It would take Gilbert & Sullivan to do justice to this situation:
"As a government minister and Lebanese citizen of course I want to see justice done and the murderers captured and punished to the fullest extent of the law. But as one of the murderers I prefer that the report be ignored, denounced as totally inaccurate, and the murderers get away free.


Lebanon's new PM is not Hezbollah and not Iran
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/lebanon-s-new-pm-is-not-hezbollah-and-not-iran-1.339218
Latest update 03:39 26.01.11
By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz
The incoming Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, is not a representative of Hezbollah and certainly not of Iran. He is a close personal friend of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and even Saudi Arabia - the patron of the outgoing prime minister - hasn't spoken out against Mikati, a 55-year-old Sunni native of Tripoli.
France also proposed Mikati for the premiership, after it became clear that the compromise prime minister suggested by Saudi Arabia and Syria had been rejected. If Mikati has the support of Saudi Arabia, Syria and France, the United States will have a hard time opposing him.
Mikati served in the government of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in which he was responsible for public service and transportation, and was asked to briefly serve as interim prime minister following Hariri's assassination in 2005. Associates of Saad Hariri, the outgoing prime minister and Rafik Hariri's son, can also be expected to make their own political calculations and decide - perhaps with some Syrian and Saudi pressure - to join Mikati's government so as not to lose all their centers of power in the country.
He will have to be everyone's prime minister, a job description Mikati should not find too difficult. With a fortune estimated at $2.5 billion, Mikati showed his ability to identify business opportunities when he invested in African countries, created (with his brother ) the massive communications company Investcom - during the height of the Lebanese civil war, when he was just 27 - and later sold it to a South African investor.
Other business ventures of Mikati's include opening a chain of luxury goods, which has its own elite fashion line; founding the Geneva-based Baboo Airline; and establishing a family foundation that helps Middle Eastern students who want to study at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago.
There is virtually no large business in Lebanon that Mikati, a former chairman of the Lebanese trade bureau, does not have some connection with. And at the same time, he has managed to maintain the good name of a clean politician.
Mikati, who studied at the American University of Beirut, the international business school INSEAD and Harvard University, is not a good friend of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and is far removed from the Iranian government.
"I am a moderate politician, I am always at an equal distance from everybody," Mikati told the BBC yesterday after he was designated to form the next government. But he knows why he was tapped for the job: He must remove the threat of the international tribunal investigating Rafik Hariri's assassination, or at least sever any connection between the Lebanese government and the panel's expected indictment of Hezbollah activists. That means halting Lebanon's funding of the tribunal and returning the Lebanese judges to the panel.
If Mikati does that - though he has not yet publicly committed to doing so - he will be able to argue, and justifiably so, that even Saad Hariri was willing to ignore the international tribunal, under certain conditions.
Hezbollah doesn't need Mikati to demonstrate its control over Lebanese politics. Any prime minister that meets its demands - including Saad Hariri - is good from its perspective.
Lebanon will not suddenly become more Iranian or more "Hezbollian" than it was two days ago. It will primarily be more Syrian, and that is a major difference, as Syria - which seeks to move closer to the United States and, thanks to France, sees itself as close to Europe - does not want Iran to seize control in its traditional sphere of influence.