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One year after the fall of Saad Hariri’s government his team’s economic legacy is still intact, albeit under new management. An alliance of former Taif signatories, along with a team of billionaires, are the caretakers of an establishment that continues to prove it is immune to change. The opposition, now lead by Hariri, has not been bothered much by the new leadership as their interests remain protected.
The security team seems for the most part content, as long as those managing the economy of Lebanon do not conspire against the resistance. The final part of this series looks at how one member of the Cabinet attempted to rattle the establishment that is eternally “on the verge” of crumbling.

Lees verder / Read on

Is there something amiss within Hezbollah?

It rose from the ignominy of oblivion, feudal exploitation, sectarian bias, and overall marginalisation to occupy political centre stage. In fewer than thirty years it converted Shia socio-political weightlessness into a counterbalancing political gravity.

It stood up against the Israeli Goliath. It survived the "incendiaries" dropped on it by Arab politicians arrayed against it from Amman to Cairo. It outclassed its enemies within and outside of Lebanon, with imaginative political guile and fine calculation against all odds.

But resisting the Goliath of Tel Aviv while embracing the lion of Damascus risks a decreasing commitment to Arab revolution within "the Party of God" - and to its own revolutionary standing.

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Van de vaak vreselijk rechts liberale website Now Libanon een interessant artikel over femnisme in Libanon.
Talking to feminist Nadine Moawad
Today is Mother’s Day in Lebanon, a day to celebrate the women in one’s life. But women in Lebanon are treated as second-class citizens by the government and often by society at large. NOW Lebanon sat down with Nadine Moawad from the feminist collective Nasawiya to talk about feminism, her organization, and the movement’s place and future in Lebanon.

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While all eyes are on the people's revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, ongoing efforts to form a new government in Lebanon have garnered little media attention. But the collapse of the Hariri government in Lebanon was another major blow to US interests and the standing of its long-time Israeli and "moderate" Arab allies. It brought a possible end to a six-year-long period of a multi-pronged, US-led offensive on Hizballah and the Syrian regime under the pretext of avenging the 2005 assassination of Lebanese tycoon and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Lees verder / Read on

By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - The situation in Lebanon is on the verge of a major explosion as a political tug-of-war continues between the March 14 coalition headed by Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and the opposition, headed by Hezbollah, over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

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As'ad Abu Khalil, The angry Arab

By Fawwaz Traboulsi from Zmag

The following article by Fawwaz Traboulsi appeared in the Beirut daily as-Safir of December 2, 2009.
Traboulsi's article is an assessment and left critique of the main themes in Hezbollah's new political platform. The platform was released on November 30 at the conclusion of a general congress that had met intermittently over several months. It was published partially or entirely in several Arabic-language media outlets, inside and outside Lebanon, in early December 2009. The platform now becomes Hezbollah's political manifesto in place of its founding document, its so-called 1985 Open Letter.

Libanon zet eerste stappen op weg naar democratie na failliet cederrevolutie terwijl de VS het nakijken heeft.
De juli-oorlog van 2006 waarin Israël Libanon aanviel betekende een gevoelig politiek en militair verlies voor Israël maar ook voor de VS als de belangrijkste steunpilaar van Israël. De politiek van Israël en de VS van polarisatie en toepassing van of dreiging met geweld lijkt steeds meer op haar grenzen te stuiten. De VS hebben geen antwoord op de veranderende wereld en zijn niet in staat zichzelf hierin aan te passen. Het zijn de oude reflexen die het optreden bepalen.

In the Wake of the Doha Truce

By KARIM MAKDISI
verscheen eerder in Counterpunch
Beirut.

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb
Open Democracy, 6 augustus 2007

De pogingen van de Verenigde Staten om HAMAS en Hizbullah te onder­mijnen maken deel uit van een tweedracht-zaaiende, beginselloze en gevaarlijke Midden-Oosten-strategie.