Of course Lebanon will have a civil war. They have a non-functioning society and they care about the "Israeli issue" more than they care about life itself. The government will collapse under the weight of protests at some point, and then the militants will run the country. Debt totals 188% of GDP. Is there really a future for a nation like that?
This is huge news if true http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061214/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon BEIRUT, Lebanon - The government and opposition have agreed on a national unity Cabinet in which major decisions could be made only by consensus, the head of the Arab League said Thursday in a major step toward ending Lebanon's political crisis. A new Cabinet is the key demand of the Hezbollah-led opposition, whose thousands of supporters have staged mass protests and daily sit-ins since Dec. 1, forcing Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to live in his office complex in central Beirut, surrounded by security forces and barbed wire. Arab League chief Amr Moussa told reporters that more talks are required to conclude the deal, and he might return to Lebanon in the coming days. The Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah has demanded a veto-wielding one third of the Cabinet plus one seat. Saniora, who is backed by the United States and Europe, has rejected the demand and continued to convene meetings of the Cabinet, from which six Hezbollah-aligned ministers resigned last month. Moussa said the parties had agreed on a formula that would give the anti-Syrian allies less than two-thirds of the Cabinet and leave the opposition short of its demand for just over one third. A neutral Cabinet minister would hold the balance. "We want to reach a formula of no victor, no vanquished ... a win-win situation," Moussa said. A Sudanese presidential envoy, Mustafa Osman Ismail, indicated the outstanding point of contention is over who will be the neutral minister. "The contacts will decide who he will be," said Ismail, whose country holds the chairmanship of the Arab Summit. He added there were "difficulties and obstacles" in the path of a final agreement. Moussa called on all the parties to defuse the tension and expressed hope that the remaining issues could be resolved in the next two weeks. "Progress is clear and consensus is rising. Please be patient a bit longer," he said. "We hope to finish in the next two weeks or at the end of the month." Ismail said he did not expect an escalation in street protests, but he doubted that the sit-ins paralyzing the city center would end soon.
He is my true hero. I've read many books about him and follow his path anytime I can. People like him come around once a century or so and they are overthrown before they get any chance. I want to talk more about the Lebanon issue, right now I gotta go, but I will make posts later. Cheers, Nima
True Nima, mossadegh was a visionary, he also cared for his people and was a peaceful man. but thanks to our governmentwe helped take down the only man who would have turned irn into a democracy. Why ? because of our greed for oil, and our short sightedness we helped bring in a minority shah who was never elected and never voted into office by teh iranian people who keeped his power by brutal supression of teh iranian people through his secret cia police called the savake . No wonder why th eiranian people turned to the khomeini
Just wanted to point out in this thread, that it's getting uglier everyday. These past 3 days things are getting out of hand. I hope this doesn't end in a civil war..... i'm gonna miss Lebanon
Nima there are 27 million lebanese christians outside of lebanon . Those people can come back anytime. If hesbolla is majority then fine they should get a share but not by forcing their weapons on them. When those 27 million come back what will happen? hesbolla also has shown that they are not acting in the interest of lebanon by starting a fight over a little piece of land. by putting flags of syria on their checkpoints and having statues built by them of hafez assad. This is a fact because i passed by their checkpoints many times myself. First they have to disarm, then they have to show they really want whats best for lebanon, then negotiations can be done.
Lexiseek this is the problem . The palestinian -israeli issue should have nothing to do with lebanon at all . Its only the extremist groups like hesbolla that want to make it a lebanese issue. America didnt start supporting teh saniora government till the whole world knew that iran was helping hezbolla out
Those 27 million are not in Lebanon now.. They left for better places (like many Iranians have). They can't decide for people living in Lebanon. When they come back they should be more than welcome to vote and participate. If I were Hezbollah's leader, I would have waited until next election and would have tried to win the majority then. (which is less than a year away), but I don't blame them much for not having trust in Siniora.
You dont blame them for not trusting saniora??????????? who started the war with isreal upon irans request to put many lebanese lives in jeopardy??????????????? and you dont blame hisbolla for not trusting saniora????????? This is a joke isnt it? Im still waiting for the punchline
Hehe I don't think these 27 Million want to come back to this mess of a country. I fell sorry for the Lebanese, I studied in LAU Lebanon and it was the best of the times for me....
I went to lebanon twice when i was grown up and had the worst of times on both of my trips(first trip 14 years ago i picked up a parasitic bacteria that kept me bedridden for 2 years and almost killed me) . The people were too frenchie and value gossip. When i got back to the american airport i kissed the ground and yelled god bless america. Do you think maybe that ticked off the 8 lebanese women behind me? ,but seeing that hoochie mama in church praying in a string bikini was interesting to say the least lol
Yep and it's not only about Lebanese people.. Any arab who leaves the middle east will be happy and never come back... Even if they paided him after he sees the world he will never return
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about... I grew up in Middle East for 18 years and i want nothing more in this world than to go back and live there again.
Nima that makes one of us, I love america and would never leave it. What i love most about here, is that people in america are generally more humble than where my parents came from.
You should never leave it mr. ping pong.... I was in Lebanon about a week ago.. and the sight of the bridge between Syria and Lebanon... on Dhar al Baydaar makes really makes me angry. Every time I pass there I wish Israel government just dies... It will take them 10 years to rebuild that bridge...