Hassan Nasrallah… Why So Silent?

Anyone else wondering why the head of Hezbollah is abnormally silent these days regarding almost everything going on?

I mean, a week into the Egyptian revolution and we had already gotten a speech about the greatness Egypt was going through. And yet, a week into the Syrian revolution and the Hezbollah camp is more silent that a mute person.

This takes me back to a point I made earlier, about the hypocrisy of said party and leader. When things are going their way, it’s very easy for them to come on TV and issue a speech about it. But when their second most trusted ally in the region is under fire, the same arguments given to support what was going in Egypt and Tunisia and Bahrain suddenly go down the drain.

Aren’t the Syrian people deserving of life and freedom and everything that you said the Egyptian people deserved? Aren’t they deserving of democracy and a leader that doesn’t bash them left and right? Or is that only applicable when the leader is loyal to you?

Moreover, Al Manar TV, also known as Hezbollah’s TV, said yesterday that the March 14 camp might be behind the Syrian uprising.

Syrian TV said the protests are filmed in Tripoli, Lebanon and March 14 is behind them as well.

I have a few questions to ask:

1) Do you really think this makes sense?

2) Do you think that if it did make sense, the March 14 camp has the resources to do a whole uprising in Syria?

3) Do you think if the March 14 camp even had the resources, they’d be able to use them in Syria? They’re struggling to get themselves together in Lebanon, let alone a country that is as hostile to their existence as the Iceland volcano?

Too many questions… too little answers and one whole load of bull.

[Poster] Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2

This is the first poster from this year’s most anticipated movie, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. And may I say, it looks absolutely kick-ass!

EDIT: The movie is absolutely kick-ass. Check out my review!

Also, great news Lebanese fans, the movie will be released on July 14th, 2011 over here, one day before its wide release in the U.S.

Updated with the new movie poster:

The Church Explosion Derivation

On Sunday morning, an explosion rocked the Syriac church of Saydit Al Najat (Our Lady of Salvation) in Zahle. Every Lebanese official denounced the explosion, naturally, as a barbaric act, against the “example” of coexistence that is Lebanon, bla bla bla.

Now let us start our derivation of who is responsible for this attack.

Naturally, it can’t be a non-Lebanese because most Lebanese barely know of the existence of the targeted sect, let alone those who are foreigners and don’t know Lebanon has Maronites or any other major Christian sect to begin with.

Now that the non-Lebanese people have been taken out of the equation, this leaves us with those who hold the beloved and cherished citizenship. Of those, say 50% are Muslims and 50% are Christians. Now since we’d like to be optimistic, let us assume that our fellow Muslims would not do such a thing because it would break this example of coexistence.

Of the remaining 50% of Christians, no one would act except upon an act issued by their correspondent political leader. You have a bunch of irrelevant leaders who can’t get their followers to hurt a fly and then you have the big quartet.

Michel Aoun was probably still sleeping, long dreaming about him being Lebanon’s president, a dream that doesn’t seem to let him go. Add to that the fact that his supporters don’t know what a bomb is and you rule him out of the equation as well.

Sleiman Frangieh’s followers know very well what a bomb is. But Zahle is just too far away from his radar that you can’t make him a serious contender for the top prize. Add to it him being clueless most of the time and you definitely take his name off the list.

Amin Gemayel was still probably mourning his son. Or in the midst of the conversation that started on Friday evening. Either way, I don’t see him as someone who would issue the bombing as well.

Samir Geagea, however, *evil smile*, this man can definitely blow up a church. I mean, out of the whole bunch of politicians today, he is the only criminal, right? And he has blown up a church before. Granted, he was exonerated, but he did blow it up, no? His party is also made up of a bunch of high school dropouts who don’t know how to write their names, so naturally, they know how to handle bombs. Also, as a wise person from Bsharri would say: If Geagea thinks a church needs to be blown up, then the church needs to be blown up.

Meanwhile, the seven Estonians are still missing. Telecom minister Charbel Nahas is still in his cat-fight with Ogero CEO, Abdel Menhem, and the country is more prosperous than ever. Some Lebanese stupidheads took the headlines with their pro-Syria protests… why would anyone care about a silly Church getting blown up?

PS: In case you didn’t notice, let me hashtag it for you: #sarcasm.

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.