Category Archives: Politics

Bahrain… Stop Being A Drama Queen

Hassan Nasrallah came on TV a few days ago and, as usual, he started preaching (or the more accurate Lebanese term: ynazzer). During this much “awaited” sermon, he naturally commented on the Bahraini revolution, wondering whether the Bahraini events not getting enough attention is related to the protesters being Shiites. He also said Hezbollah would help the protesters.

As a result to that, Bahrain saw it fit to suspend its flights to Lebanon and ask its people to leave the country and refrain from visiting, citing potential threats to their safety.

Now I wonder, does the Bahraini government really think we care about where tourists are coming from? Does it really think we – even Hezbollah – have checkpoints to check foreign passports and then, if those passports are Bahraini, abduct them?

Does it even make sense for Hezbollah to do anything to harm the Shiite-majority community?

Sure, Nasrallah is a hypocrite. In his speech, he spoke about the importance of the revolutions going on everywhere… except Syria, simply because a revolution in Syria doesn’t work to his advantage. And yes, he is a man of big words and little action. But for the Kingdom of Bahrain to have the reaction it had to a few words he spoke about the events in their country is blowing things way out of proportions.

If anything, the Lebanese government should warn and ask us to refrain from visiting a troubled country like Bahrain, not the other way around.

Dear Bahrain, stop being such a drama queen… for your sake and ours.

 

The Libyan Situation: Morally Baffling…



It is without understatement that I can say Colonel Gaddafi is a monster. That is as clear and true as the sun shining every morning in countries where the climate allows that.

He is a man who has been ruling his country with an iron fist for over forty years and he doesn’t look satisfied yet. He has done almost every single thing imaginable to stay in office, except eradicating the whole population of his country. Don’t worry, he is hell-bent on doing so as well. Just today, more than forty people were killed in a Libyan city, including children, while trying to stand in the way of armed forces opening fire on innocent people.

Even more so, Colonel Gaddafi set fire to the Libyan oil fields. If he can’t have them, why should anyone else, right?

Apparently no one.

After weeks of him murdering his people, it looks like NATO forces and Western countries “finally” took notice. I mean, they kept turning their blind eye on the dictatorships in the region. Why so? well, those dictatorships were providing them with oil and they were keeping their parts of a burning region at “peace”. What more could those countries ask?

But now Gaddafi was burning those oil fields. And oil prices had begun skyrocketing again. What were the NATO forces and armies of other Western countries (notably the US) supposed to do?

Oh yes, they intervene militarily. What’s the premise of this intervention? “humanitarian” reasons.

And here goes our moral dilemma… Gaddafi or NATO forces intervening in his country?

Sure Gaddafi does not have an reason to burn the oil fields. They are not his. They are his country’s riches. He also does not have any right to even order any of his armed forces to lay a hand on any of his people. But to say Gaddafi is sane is as credible as saying the Earth is the center of the universe. The man is a mad case. But that also does not even remotely justify what he’s been doing, which can be categorized as a genocide.

On the other hand, what gives foreign forces the right to barge into Libya and start bombarding the country left and right? They’re only there to secure their economical advantages with the oil, so to say they are there for “humanitarian” reasons is a big lie to anyone with common sense.

And there is it… our moral puzzle. Who is at more fault? the man single-handedly destroying his country? or the foreign armed forces trying to take the country by force?

 

They Should Not Be Forgotten

Lebanese Detainees in Syria

Amidst the political brouhaha taking place across the Middle East today, I’m afraid we are beginning to forget about a very importance puzzle piece in the face of the Lebanese political situation today.

What has brought this to my attention again were the protests that erupted in Syria on March 15th and the hope that rekindled in me that Syrians would find it in them to take these protests the long way and come out triumphant, toppling down the system that has made their lives – and ours – a living hell.

In Syria today is a group of Lebanese people who, the least you can say about them, have been killed without them dying. How so? Hundreds of Lebanese have been taken as political prisoners to Syria, never to be seen or heard from them again. Sure, the most logical conclusion you can draw is they were killed… but what if they’re not?

These Lebanese prisoners have been slowly turned into second degree political prisoners. Why? because Syria, after all, is not our “mortal enemy” like Israel and therefore, Lebanese prisoners in Syria are not as worthy of attention as their counterparts in Israel. And so the length that some parties go to in order to liberate the prisoners they have in Israeli prisons, they simply do not make for these prisoners, even though they might be the only parties in the country who have the means to currently do so.

Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons are treated like less than human beings. One of the few who got out alive is a school teacher from Tripoli who told about her torture through a process called the “tire” (Douleib). They basically put her inside a tire and hit her with electric cords, not caring where the cords slammed her. Her eye was hit and it erupted like an egg in a frying pan. They did not care. They kept on hitting her.

Contrast that with Samir Kuntar, who, according to many, has committed one of the worst crimes in Israeli history. He came out of Israeli prison as part of an exchange safe and sound. He even married an Arab Israeli in prison and she received monthly payments because he was a prisoner. And while in prison he also pursued a university degree. When Kuntar was “liberated”, he received a hero’s welcome by the party that sought out his release. When the teacher I mentioned earlier was released, she went into oblivion. And in my mind, that is seriously wrong.

So today, I plead to the humanitarian side of those who still have it. It looks like the political party who has the means to help doesn’t care at all. Therefore, I hope with all my heart that something comes out of the Syrian protests that would lead to some closure for the families of the Lebanese detainees and hopefully a new page in the story of the Lebanon-Syria relationship where we are seen as equals and not a province that wasn’t.

Pictures From The March 13th Protest

These are the pictures I took of the protest. This post will be updated when my friend sends me the pictures he took with this professional camera.

If you’re wondering why I decided to participate, you can check out my reasons here.


13 Reasons Why I’m Participating in March 13th

1. I’m participating to let the old senile man, accusing me of not existing anymore, know that I am here to stay.

2. I’m participating to let the whole world know that I am not to be taken for granted.

3. I’m participating because I need to bring my country back to where I chose it to go in 2009.

4. I’m participating because people seem to have forgotten how horrible it was when Syrians had control on the country.

5. I’m participating because my view of the best Lebanon does not include armed militias that can do whatever they want, whenever they want and expect you not to do anything about it.

6. I’m participating because I do not approve of political hypocrisy – one that has become all too common today.

7. I’m participating because I refuse the notion that having an opinion in Lebanon makes you part of the “herd.”

8. I’m participating because I don’t want my future to be one involving being stranded on doors of embassies and getting a colonoscopy in airports where my country is blacklisted.

9. I’m participating because while we were the “angels” in this country, it’s high time we be its devils (in a peaceful and organized way, of course)

10. I’m participating because our martyrs, who died to keep this country free and sovereign, should not be forgotten.

11. I’m participating because in a world that is bleak, the concept of justice is one that will keep a light on.

12. I’m participating because I believe it’s high time we take a stand with what we believe in.

13. I’m participating because I want to.