One of my favorite Lebanese blogs have posted a great post on the silenced ones, and I’ll join the blogosphere in spreading our stand.

These days haven’t been kind to the Israeli Prime minister with probes he’s being faced with. Out of all the news roaming on Lebanon scattered throughout the internet, I chose to post todays inquiry on an interview of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with Radio France International. The francophone station, of course, broadcasts in Lebanon on 96.2 MHz.

“Political stability is not being respected by all the parties in Lebanon, and that is not in our benefit. We will be putting all our efforts into reaching an agreement with Lebanon sooner or later.”

My personal opinion is, that it’s About Time! Lebanese are willing to have a fair peace agreement with Israel, and many from both sides of the border would be very happy about such talks as it would benefit both countries’ stability and peace, as we have both seen our viciousness when it comes to war.

Yesterday, Beyrouth fell to the Opposition, and then given back to the Army to restore the peace.

Today, several villages in the district of Aley, including Aaytat and Baysur, fell to the Druze opposition leader, Talal Arslan.

Walid Jumblatt, a member of the ruling coalition, and leader of the country’s Druze community, urged Talal Arslan, his political rival allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition, to place the affected regions under army rule.

“Things deteriorated in the area af Aley in such a way that is threatening the coexistence with our brothers who are Shia. I agreed with [Nabih] Berri [the parliamentary speaker] to entrust Talal Arslan with seeking to put an end to all the fighting.”

I say to my supporters that civil peace, coexistence and ending the destruction [must] prevail over all the other considerations.” Jumblatt told local media, addressing his supporters and urging them to lay down their weapons.

I’m not sure if the government feels it’s loosing ground and support, but they’re certainly taking wise, and courageous decisions. Probably they feel the 2009 elections are coming up. Eithercase, I hope the Lebanese people will not forget what the Opposition and the Government made the people go through over the past 2 years.

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by Hooman Majd
If there were ever a perfect example of the Bush administration’s utterly bankrupt, and provably impotent, foreign policy, it would have to be the State Department’s reaction to events in Beyrouth over the last few days. The laughably weak U.S.-backed Lebanese government, in what can only be described as a moment of insanity, decided last week to take on Hezbollah by cutting off their private telephone network, an act that Hassan Nasrallah, perhaps the Arab world’s most popular leader, described as an act of war. And war he brought, completely taking over West Beirut in a matter of hours, and humiliating the hapless pro-Western government and its allies. And what was the U.S. up to as Beirut burned? This, according to the New York Times:

“Ms. Rice and other Bush administration officials were on the phone Friday with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon. A senior administration official said the United States, which barely talks to Syria, Iran or Hezbollah, which the Bush administration considers a terrorist organization, was trying to use its Arab allies to send a message to Iran and Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon.”

Continue reading ‘The U.S. Administration vis-à-vis Lebanon’