Protecting a Red Head - Australian PM Has Difficult Time With Aboriginal Demonstrators! Cannot Tie That Kangaroo Down, Mate!

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

The Syria Lebanon shindig is not a religious problem

It's territorial.

The Lebanese immigrants I knew in Brazil loathed Syria because of its iron grip on their country.

But Lebanese can't even get along with other Lebanese. And Syria has a dictator (for the time being, anyway). So there it is.

Michael

[william.scherk]

The Syria Lebanon shindig is not a religious problem

It's territorial.

The Lebanese immigrants I knew in Brazil loathed Syria because of its iron grip on their country.

But Lebanese can't even get along with other Lebanese. And Syria has a dictator (for the time being, anyway). So there it is.

I

I have realized that Bob has no interest in this area. And I understand that. Why should he give a shit about Lebanon, anyway? Why should he think beyond an aphorism he can type out once every month? What's the payoff for him?

Better to utter an irrelevant aside now and again and maintain his reputation as a Know Nothing.

I disagree a bit with you, Michael, and first let it be said that Lebanon is a fascinating place. Of all the regional nations, it is the closest to democracy (with Tunisia and Egypt set to catch up). It has the most free media in any Arab or Islamic country (besides, again, Tunisia and Egypt at the moment). It is surely a mistake to judge a whole nation on the actions of the poor sad old Lebanese fascist fuck in the video above, and that their are still demented SSNP/Baathi holdovers from the cold war era is evident from the video above..

The 'territorial' notion you introduce could be misunderstood, so I will tell you what I know of the Lebanon-Syria shindig in terms of religious/territorial problem, in Coatesian point form.

• Lebanon's polity is organized on confessional grounds since the French mandate, and this is reinforced by the Doha agreement in 2008. This means that the President must be a Maronite, the Prime Minister must be Sunni, and the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament must be Shia. This, of course, causes problems, and some of the problems are indeed territorial, in that many (not all) of the armed militias that were operative never gave up their weapons or organization from the last civil war. Viz, especially, Hizbollah.
  
• After the assassination of Rafik Hariri, and the 'Cedar Revolution,' the Syrians were forced to withdraw their armed forces from Lebanon (and presumably their Mukhabarat secret police).
  
• The Syrian army entered the civil war to protect the Maronites from slaughter, but since that entry allied with whatever corrupt armed political faction it could dominate.
  
• The Syrian occupation further corrupted the already corrupt sectarian 'pie' in Lebanon, and destroyed Lebanon's ability to act as a sovereign nation. This will not be fixed until Bashar Assad dies, is forced from office or hanged/shot.
  
• "Greater Syria" is the Ottoman province that comprised all the lands of Syria, western Iraq, Jordan, Palestine/Israel, Lebanon and the region of Alexandretta. It lives on in the hearts of Baathis and the sick and sad SSNP (Syrian Social Nationalist Party) inside Lebanon, notwithstanding those who have quit Lebanon for various reasons ...
  
• Syria was, and remains the most complex buffet of sect, religion, ethnic and nationalities in the region. It has distinct minorities, some with extremely ancient roots (the last remnants of Christians who speak modern Aramaic in three villages, the Alawite, the Yazidi, etc) and the more recently arrived (1 million refugee Iraqis, 40% Christian, Cherkess -muslims from the upper reaches of the Caucasus, Armenians and Syriacs who fled the Ottoman slaughter). It has over close to a half million refugees from Palestine. It has two million Kurds of several sects). It has four Jews.
  
• The border between Syria and Lebanon is mined on the Syrian side since July/August, but the border has never been finalized between the two nations.
  
• Syria refuses to open an embassy in Beirut.
  

Now, territory, yes, but.

As for Bob, he is so frigging thick on this subject (They are all Islamic Muslim Moslem Arab Mohammedans). To the point of retardation.

But I still love him. We all have soft parts in our brains, I am sure.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

William,

Thanks for fleshing out the territorial thing.

I go mainly on the perspective of what I heard first-hand, having been married into that culture for 5 years (ex-step-mother Lebanese descendent opera singer, ex-step-father a macho Bedouin who liked John Wayne movies).

Since this culture is highly tribal and very social, I got to meet all kinds of people who would otherwise avoid me. Being an American, I was a true ugly duckling.

The people I knew didn't hate Americans or the American way of life. They looked up to many things in USA culture. Americans just didn't belong to their "colony" (which is the way they say it down there). Like Germans, Japanese, etc., didn't belong. They saved their bickering and hatred for each other. Much like we do here in western culture.

That kind of situation doesn't fit the current narrative going on in the mainstream media about the threat of Islamism (or lack of threat on the progressive side), the evil (or goodness) of Islam and so on. It's more about everyday people going about everyday affairs much like everyday people everywhere than anything else.

And I lived it so I know it exists.

Michael