Hezbollah means ‘party of God’ and it claims to be pious. But it doesn’t mind destroying the lives of millions by addicting them to cocaine as it controls South American drug routes and benefits from criminal enterprises. The below recent exposé is a must read.
It is something everyone in the corridors of Arab power tends to acknowledge: that the current Iranian regime is a destabilizing apocalyptic messianic cult whose acquisition of nuclear weapons would be an overwhelming threat to the region. But it is never publicly discussed or shared with the masses. Till now. The leaks of diplomatic memos between the US and its foreign allies is a stark affirmation of the danger that Arab – and Israeli – leaders perceive from Iran.
Here is just one summary:
Graphic: Fears of a Nuclear Iran
Middle East leaders speak about their powerful neighbor with a directness seldom, if ever, heard in public.
I just read a New York Times article that reminded me think that it is astonishing how deep is the cult of ‘resistance’ in the Arab world that thugs like Nassrallah are seen as heroes. He is among the most popular figures in Egypt and Palestine (and all across the Mideast) and seen as an upright honest leader. It is fascinating how human beings can rationalize facts away when they interfere with their romantic notions. The way Hezbollah has been bullying Saad Hariri and the Lebanese people to stop seeking answers for who was behind the assassination of the former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri should disgust any human being who cares about justice. Nassrallah is to Lebanon what an organized Mafia family head would be to a jury investigating their crimes if he publicly threatened the jury in court.
Too bad the Saudis, the Sunnis and the Americans among many others who should compose civil society and the police have done so little to protect them.
by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky
Security sources report that Syria has been delivering arms from clandestine depots in Syria to bases in Lebanon. This accusation heightens fears that Syria’s President Bashar Assad is becoming close with Hizbollah, and by extension, its friend, Iran. As part of this concern, some worry that should a clash erupt between Lebanon and Israel, Syria would be entered into the fighting. The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bans providing arms to Hizbollah and many Western leaders are pressing President Assad to stop undermining this provision.
I have noticed over the years that every incident, every data point, every fact, and certainly every news story is interpreted differently by Israelis and Palestinians, each time suspecting bias against them. Here is a study that explains the psychology behind the perceived partisan bias towards the other side.
Interesting article about an investment scandal in Lebanon that has tarnished Hezbollah’s reputation.
As this article illustrates, looks like OneVoice could be a positive and missing ingredient in Lebanese soil.
The New York Times reports about (OneVoice/PeaceWorks Foundation Board member) Dennis Ross’s move from the State Department to the White House. It offers a lot of theories for the move, many of them probably on target. But it fails to mention one of the most important likely factors: the interplay between all these Mideast conflicts, and the need for an integrated broad approach and appreciation when tackling them.
It does not mean that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will fix the Middle East! (Ross would plainly disagree with that, as the article points out). But it does mean that Iran’s arming of Hezbollah and Hamas deeply handicaps efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peace, and that lack of Israeli-Palestinian progress hampers US national interests - as well as Israeli and Palestinian and Arab progress itself.
When President Obama was elected, many Israelis fretted that he would side with Palestinians, while the majority of Palestinians were elated.
When Obama selected Rahm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff, Palestinians were devastated and paralyzed in fear, while Israelis celebrated Rahm’s service in the Israeli Defense Forces.
And so on, with every appointment or every announcement by the Obama Administration, Middle Easterners have interpreted the signals as a game of ping-pong - a score for this side or the other.
If Obama is to score a historic agreement among Israel and Palestine, and between Israel and the Arab and Muslim World, his task first and foremost is to do to the Middle East what he did to the American landscape - i.e., to Obamize the Middle East.
Obama was elected because he rejected false paradigms of division and helped people celebrate their human commonalities.
And so in the Middle East, Obama’s philosophy has been to show that if we work together, it will not be for the benefit of one side at the expense of the other, but humanity’s benefit and that of both sides.
Obama’s transformation is moving at a faster pace than anyone anticipated.
This week, moderates in Lebanon rejected the charismatic but divisive policies of Hezbollah’s Sheikh Nasrallah, instead reaffirming a parliamentary majority for the pro-Western government.
Obama may be in for yet another influential game-changer, after his poignant speech in Cairo, if next week Iranians elected a reformer to dethrone Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President. Yes, the Iranian President may not be the Supreme Leader of Iran. But he certainly wielded enormous (negative) global influence and a rebuke of his vision will be refreshing and encouraging to the world order.
Now hopefully Israelis and Palestinians will also press their governments to stop dillydallying and once and for all deliver a realistic agreement for a two state solution.
Ethan Bronner of the New York Times wrote an interesting - and sobering - article about the dwindling numbers of Christians in the Middle East.
