Counter-terrorism agents are investigating a threat made by an alleged Hezbollah member to a Melbourne-based woman because she refused to accept his Facebook ‘friend request’.

The woman received death threats from the self-proclaimed terrorist through the social networking site after she declined the man’s online “friend request”, the Weekend Australian newspaper reports.

The man, who described himself as Ibrahim Dirani, is a member of the Lebanon-based Facebook group. He was banned from the site after police launched their investigation this week, the newspaper reports.

The woman told police Dirani promised to kill her and her family.

“I am Hezbollah and I am going to kill you and your family — promise you,” the man wrote, according to police documents.

Source

Head of the UN Special Tribunal Daniel Bellemare has announced an unnamed “criminal network” was behind the Hariri assassination and suspects the network acted out the subsequent chain of assassinations.

Download attachment(s): [ Bellemare_Report_03-28-2008.pdf ]

Watch documentary here: http://www.france5.fr/c-dans-l-air/index-fr.php?page=resume&id_article=2624 

En ces fêtes de Pâques, le mot “paix” est décliné dans toutes les langues. Par les fidèles des Eglises chrétiennes occidentales qui ont célébré la résurrection, par les dizaines de milliers de marcheurs qui depuis vendredi sillonnent l’Europe du Nord mais aussi par les chrétiens d’Irak, dont la survie est menacée dans un pays ensanglanté quotidiennement. 

Depuis la chute du régime de Saddãm Hussein et la montée en puissance des mouvements islamistes, la communauté chrétienne d’Irak est victime d’une véritable hémorragie. Cela a commencé à Bassorah, où nombre de chrétiens chaldéens s’étaient installés pour ouvrir divers commerces, et en particulier des magasins vendant de l’alcool. On comptait quelque 500 familles au début des années 70.

Victimes d’attentats, ils ont tous fui, presque immédiatement après la chute du raïs. Cela a continué à Bagdad et à Mossoul, où l’implantation catholique remonta au premier siècle de l’ère chrétienne. Pendant près d’un an, les membres de cette Eglise ne se sont pas sentis visés pour leur croyance mais d’être victimes, comme les autres Irakiens, de l’anarchie et de l’insécurité générales. Puis, les enlèvements et les meurtres se sont multipliés et ont bouleversé la communauté qui jusqu’alors ne se croyait pas menacés par les islamistes dans ces deux villes.

Le 13 mars 2008, la découverte du corps de M^gr Rahho, évêque de Mossoul, qui avait été enlevé le 29 février à la sortie de la messe, provoque l’émotion de l”ensemble du monde chrétien. Cette mort représente un symbole du martyre enduré par les Chaldéens, menacés depuis cinq ans par les islamistes, qui reprochent à la très ancienne communauté chrétienne de Mésopotamie d’être complice des Américains.

“Des gens sont menacés, kidnappés, tués en pleine semaine sainte !”, s’insurge l’archevêque chaldéen de Kirkouk, Luis Sako. Des actes qui poussent beaucoup à se poser chaque jour la question de l’exil.

Face aux persécutions, les responsables chrétiens irakiens estiment que 75 000 croyants ont quitté le pays pour la Syrie, la Jordanie ou l’Occident. 75 000 autres auraient fui vers le nord de l’Irak, au Kurdistan irakien, où la liberté religieuse est plus grande. Mais arrivés nombreux avec, pour seul bien, les habits qu’ils portaient sur eux au moment de leur fuite, leur intégration pourrait se révéler difficile.

Depuis le début de l’invasion américaine en 2003, au moins 2 millions d’Irakiens ont fui le pays et on estime qu’il reste aujourd’hui moins de 400 000 chrétiens en Irak. Ils étaient au nombre de 636 000 environ en 2005 et encore un million en 1980, car, paradoxe de l’histoire, Saddãm Hussein leur ménageait une relative tranquillité.

Depuis six mois, la multiplication des initiatives a permis d’amorcer un début de prise de conscience des chrétiens de France en faveur de leurs frères d’Orient. Au nom du mouvement Pax Christi, l’évêque de Troyes, M^gr Marc Stenger, qui s’était rendu en Irak en février, a à son retour plaidé pour accueil en Europe des croyants irakiens qui se sont enfuis de leur pays.

Un projet formulé par le ministre des Affaires étrangères Bernard Kouchner en décembre 2007. ”Nous allons, j’espère, en accueillir près de 500 dans les semaines qui viennent et on verra après”, a-t-il déclaré le 19 mars 2008, lors d’un entretien sur RMC et BFM-TVM, en ajoutant que “nous ne refuserons pas d’accueillir des musulmans” mais “le problème, c’est que personne n’accueillait les chrétiens”.

Accueilli avec soulagement par la communauté chaldéenne de France, forte de 15 000 membres environ, vivant majoritairement en région parisienne, cette annonce a suscité quelques réserves. Pierre Henry, directeur de France Terre d’Asile, avait accusé, mardi 18 mars, dans un entretien à l’AFP, le gouvernement de vouloir faire une “opération de communication” en faisant venir ces chaldéens irakiens aux alentours du début de la présidence française de l’Union européenne, qui commence le 1^er juillet 2008.

As i already mentioned in my previous posts, the Opposition is not seeking a solution but rather seeking to put more obstacles on our way .. I proposed that both teams pick intellectuals to meet and solve things, but it seems Ahmadinajad, the new M8 representative ( hek mbayyan) closed down that option as well ..

Now i am dying to hear what Hezbollah & more specifically what MICHEL AOUN has to say about that ..
Talking of Michels, Michel el Murr attacked the FPM today and Michel Aoun saying they are the ones blocking the presidency ..

Ahmadinejad: No President, No Government in Lebanon before End of Bush’s Term

Diplomatic sources close to Tehran on Wednesday quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as telling a high-ranking Arab official that Lebanon will not have a new President or a new government before the end of U.S. President George Bush’s term Jan. 20, 2009.

Hakim gave his first press release today after few days of his arrival to the US.
The visit is gonna take few weeks, but he has not yet met any officials.

From the papers and media sources:

Samir Geagea à « L’Orient-Le Jour » : « En filigrane de cette visite, une tentative de tenir le Liban à l’écart des conflits régionaux » -

جعجع من واشنطن: سأسعى لضمانة اميركية لابعاد لبنان عن الصراعات الاقليمية

I’ve followed this problem since few weeks time and read how it has been dealt so far. I believe someone should write a small paper on it and send it to all our politicians, maybe then they will learn how to seriously dialogue and come out with solutions or at least serious proposals to get out of a crisis the best way possible for the country and people first, and SECOND for the politicians and political parties.

The last elections held in Belgium were in June 2007, and since then the different political parties were unable of forming a government. Here is a small review on the crisis, i will not go into a lot of details ( For those interested in further details, i will put links ).

Belgium is a country with 10.5 million inhabitants, of whom 6 million live in Dutch-speaking Flanders, 3 million in French-speaking Wallonia and 1 million in the officially bilingual, but predominantly French-speaking, capital Brussels, which is an enclave within Flanders.

After the elections, the inability of Belgium’s politicians to form a government has led to Belgium’s deepest political crisis ever. Flemish politicians who agree to join a government which does not abolish BHV know that they are committing political suicide in view of the next regional elections in 2009, whilst Walloon politicians fear the same will happen to them if they agree to abolish BHV. Meanwhile, as long as no solution is found, new general elections at the national (federal) level will be unconstitutional. Technically this situation can continue until 2011 when new general elections are due, but the general impression is that a country cannot function for four years without a government. Hence, King Albert II, the descendant of a German prince from Saxe-Coburg whom London installed in Brussels in 1831 because he was neither Fleming nor Walloon, sees the foundation under his throne crumble. Albert’s popularity in Flanders has dropped to the lowest level ever.

[Read more]

Even though the country is as divided as ever, i never heard of riots or demonstrations in Brussels, i never heard of a party setting up tents in the middle of the city, i never heard their politicians curse and insult each others on public tvs …

Instead, they called the most qualified people in their country to meet and find a way out of the crisis, and propose it to both parties. I dont care what happens next, but i just wish we could take this example and follow it.

Let M14 & M8 select the best of their intellectuals or technocrats and have them meet for days, come up with a list of solutions, propose it to their heads and get back to work until realizing a final paper on which the two teams must agree, and have them sign a pact that both teams will abide by the paper.

Is that so hard?

I honestly dont recall the last time i felt so humiliated of being Lebanese ..

We are boycotting Paris’ book fair because Israel is a guest of honor ???? And even worse we are doing so based on a decision ( read well) by the ISECSCO. In fact, the 50-nation Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISECSCO), called for a boycott of the event by Islamic states.

That same ISECSCO that was almost approved not long time ago by the government and that intended to islamize our educational system if it wasnt for the Patriarch’s interference and few other politicians ( Naamtallah Abi nasr for ex).

Added to that, Lebanon is now portrayed as an Islamic country

From the LA Times:
A decision to make Israel the guest of honor at the upcoming Paris book fair has angered Muslim countries around the world

And who announced the boycott ?? Tareq Mitri !

This is Ignorance at its best, complete stupidity ..but of course no one reacted ?? la chou .. machghouleen yisabso bi ba3ed wou yi2awssso RPGS ..

Taken from the LF Site.

Fight Fanatism with Nationalism .. i find it reasonable.
But Fighting Fanatism with more Fanatism .. it will only cause more problems and more hatred and therefore pave the way for more fanatism …

I dont see the point of naming the Prophet such names, i dont see any positive outcome of such an action.

A candidate campaigning for the Graz city council in Austria says it is time that Islam was “thrown back … behind the Mediterranean,” and alleges Muhammad wrote the Koran in “epileptic fits.”

Election campaigns, it would seem, are uncomfortable times for immigrants to be in Europe. First, it was Ronald Koch, the conservative politician in the German state of Hesse who turned up the rhetoric and began railing against “criminal young foreigners” in his country. Now, an Austrian politician has followed suit.

Read the full article here.

President Bush arrived in Israel on Wednesday to begin a weeklong trip in the Middle East intended to overcome deep skepticism by Israelis and Palestinians about the prospects of a negotiated peace in the last year of Mr. Bush’s presidency [...]

I was wondering why Bush cancelled his visit to Lebanon, it would have been the biggest boost to M14 and to the government and a slap in the face to Hezbollah and its threats ..

Tony Blair, newly minted Catholic: What took him so long?
The Roman Catholic Church has a new member, and he is isn’t just another, would-be choir boy.

Last Friday, in a private ceremony in London, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair left the Anglican Church (the Church of England founded by King Henry VIII in the 1500s after he broke with the Pope in Rome) and converted to Catholicism. The politician who led Britain into war with George W. Bush in Iraq in the face of emphatic protests from his countrymen “was received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster….” (Times)

I think it’s quite strange that the day went by and no one on the Lebanese blogsphere mentioned anything about the International Day of Human Rights and the prominent role played by Dr. Charles Malik.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was proclaimed on December 10, 1948. NOW Lebanon has published an article about Dr. Malik’s early career as a philospher and diplomat.

For an official description about Dr. Malik’s “driving force behind the document’s arrangement”, you can find his biography on the official website of the UDHR.

What the hell is wrong with those people ???

She named a teddy bear Mohammad by mistake and now they wanna execute her …
Ma kharjoun education hal 3alam .. kharjoun da3ess bil sermeye !

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 30 — Hundreds of demonstrators in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, poured into the streets on Friday demanding the execution of a British teacher who was convicted of insulting Islam because her class of 7-year-olds named a teddy bear Muhammad.

The protesters, some carrying swords, screamed, “Shame, shame on the U.K.!” and, “Kill her, kill her by firing squad.”

They were calling for the death of Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in jail. Under Sudanese law, she could have spent six months behind bars and received 40 lashes. { …}

Arabic Version ( from Naharnet)

English Version ( From Daily Star)

Brief Summary:
The criminals are still out there and more capable than ever

A Lebanese-born C.I.A. officer who had previously worked as an F.B.I. agent pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that she illegally sought classified information from government computers about the radical Islamic group Hezbollah.

The plea agreement by the defendant, Nada Nadim Prouty, appeared to expose grave flaws in the methods used by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct background checks on its investigators.

Continue reading here.

Ashrafa el Nass ( aka Hezbollah) caught in L.A as part of a drug ring .. guess they either blow themselves to get upthere or just smell some white coc and get high in no time ..

Sources: Feds Target Hezbollah Cell in L.A.

Today we report in the New York Daily News about a bizarre case unfolding in the Los Angeles communities Bell and Cudahy, where a special task force collared a dozen Arab-American and Latino suspects involved in a seemingly small-time drug and counterfeit clothing ring. While on the surface it doesn’t appear to be terrorism-related, our sources say Operation Bell Bottoms targeted a “classic case of terrorism financing,” with the defendants smuggling profits from selling dope and counterfeit goods in
L.A. back to Iran-backed Shiite terror group Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon.

Neither the press release by the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California or court filings by the government specifically mention Hezbollah or terrorism. But one clue is found in the affidavits filed in court, which are signed by prosecutors from the Justice Department’s National Security Division and by an FBI official assigned to “Counterterrorism Squad 4″ in L.A., a task force brimming with agents from the FBI, DEA, IRS, Department of Homeland Security and local cops. CT-4 isn’t known for making drug and counterfeiting cases.

The counterfeit designer duds were sold out of local stores by the defendants from Bell and Cudahy. My colleague Jeff Anderson has written astounding stories that suggest no criminal activity in Cudahy is done without the blessing - and tax being paid to - the Mexican mafia and 18th Street gang. Also, while unmentioned so far in court papers, Hezbollah is well known to have profited from the illegal sale of name-brand counterfeits produced in the tri-border area of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
The Daily News has reported on similar scams before that were proven in federal court to be Hezbollah fundraising operations. Often they have involved smuggling cigarettes and other goods, as CT Blog contributing expert Matthew Levitt blogged about yesterday.

As the possibility of a confrontation with Iran arises, so have fears that Hezbollah operatives involved in the U.S. fundraising schemes could turn operational and attack at Tehran’s behest. While that may be a remote possibility, a federal case in 2003 fueled such speculation. Defendant Mahmoud Youssef Kourani was accused by federal prosecutors in Detroit of being a Hezbollah soldier trained in “weaponry, spycraft and counterintelligence.” Kourani’s brother was Hezbollah’s security chief in southern Lebanon.

Quite an impressive coverage on CNN and many channels for this meeting, no one seems to realize how important it is for a Lebanese politician ( neither prime minister nor president) to shake hands with Bush in the White House and get USA’s support.

Let us hope this support stays for long enough until we get rid of the Syrians.

I am not quite sure if you are following the news, but there is a major event going on in Burma ( or Mnaymar ) where hundreds of thousands of monks are protesting against Myanmar’s generals and the 1988 crackdown by General Saw Maung that caused the death of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.

I honestly admire their courage and their commitment, and i hope the UN & US and the whole world will be put enough pressure against those criminal general to depose them once and for all.