Source : Daily Star

When Charles Dickens penned “A Christmas Carol” in 1843, he almost certainly didn’t suspect that his book would hold significance for the people of Lebanon as they begin to celebrate the holiday in 2009. But over 150 years after the publication of Dickens’ tale, one of its enduring morals gives us hope — That something about the spirit of Christmas can inspire even the most hardened misanthrope to learn the errors of his ways and embrace his or her hitherto repressed sense of humanity.

In our own local, modern version of the classic story, there is more than just one Scrooge. They are the dozens of men and women who serve as our elected representatives, but who have been so miserly in their performance that Lebanese citizens are left mostly empty-handed as Christmas begins.

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VIDEO

Georges Pernoud et toute l’équipe de “Thalassa” vous embarquent chaque semaine pour des destinations lointaines à la rencontre de cultures, de peuples et de continents.

C’est dans un monde méditerranéen en pleine métamorphose que Thalassa fait escale. Du Liban, nous sera montré un littoral chargé d’histoire ancienne et d’histoire récente. Entre les ruines phéniciennes et les traces de la guerre, les Libanais imposent leur appétit de vivre, de survivre. Métamorphose aussi chez le voisin syrien, dont la côte ne fait que quelques dizaines de kilomètres. Le bord de mer devient attractif et l’on vient de la capitale pour y séjourner au frais, comme sur l’île d’Arwad.

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Nov 26th 2009 | DAMASCUS
From The Economist print edition

Under its surprisingly durable leader, Syria has stubbornly nudged its way back into the heart of regional diplomacy. It can no longer be ignored.

SIX years ago, President Bashar Assad looked weak, stumbling and isolated. In the words of the neoconservatives dominant in Washington after the conquest of Iraq, his regime was “low-hanging fruit”. Its fall would complete a circle of Western influence in the area, with Turkey, a NATO member, to the north-west and Israel to the south. The decline of Syria seemed to hasten when, after it was widely blamed in 2005 for the murder of Lebanon’s five-times prime minister, Rafik Hariri, it ignominiously lost its place as master of its small neighbour. Only Iran, among Syria’s friends, stood fast against the West. Yet now the position has drastically changed. Mr Assad is increasingly viewed as an essential part of the region’s diplomatic jigsaw. He is fast coming back into the game. Even America would like to embrace him.

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The Washington Post | By Alia Ibrahim

Suleiman’s brother was a Hezbollah fighter, killed in the 2006 war with Israel. His house was destroyed by an Israeli shell. And now, his life’s fortune is gone, too, lost along with the money of thousands of other Lebanese who put their faith in a billionaire financier with close ties to Hezbollah.

A new joke has been making the rounds in political circles of Beirut: “The birth of Lebanon’s new government was so long and painful that in the end, a Caesarean had to be performed.”

But it is the punchline that makes some politicians here cringe: “The obstetrician was Syria,” it says.

“We are back to the Syrian hegemony,” said one pro-Western politician who did not want to be identified.

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Hezbollah still holds power despite losing the election.
The weekly Standard | by Peter Berkowitz
11/30/2009, Volume 015, Issue 11

“If you think you understand Lebanon,” a friend counseled me as I prepared for my first trip to her native land, “somebody’s just explained it badly.” Six days in Lebanon confirmed her wisdom. They also confirmed that the United States can ill afford to neglect this tiny, beautiful, strife-ridden country, which is in the Arab world but not entirely of it, and which since the 1980s has served as a battleground in Iran’s quest for hegemony in a region critical to vital American national security interests.

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Israel is refusing to comment on claims from Beirut that the Lebanese military fired at an unmanned Israeli aircraft on Saturday, forcing the drone to leave the Lebanese air space.

An Israeli official who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity declined to discuss the Lebanese action, but did try to put Beirut’s claims in a broader context.

“Israel has no hostile intentions whatsoever regarding Lebanon, and the key to peace is the full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions that call on Hezbollah to be disarmed. This is the obligation of the Lebanese government and the international community,” said the official.

The Lebanese military said that the unmanned plane was flying at medium altitude over southern Lebanon, not far beyond the border between the two countries.

JerusalemPost | By ZVI MAZEL

It would seem that Syria suffered a major defeat last week with the formation of a Lebanese national unity government.

Syria has for years fought long and hard to keep Lebanon under its thumb, but in 2004, with the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, its influence took a big hit. At the time, the murder was attributed to pro-Syrian elements, and subsequent universal condemnation from Western and Arab powers alike forced Damascus to pull its troops from Lebanese soil.

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