Al ma7abis youridoun al 3afou al 3am !

The entire Middle East is witnessing popular revolts against despots, regimes and long standing oppression; and we Lebanese (the chosen people amongst our Arab neighbours) are witnessing a new kind of revolution.
In keeping with the (misplaced) idea of being “avangardistes”, and having missed the train of true rebellion against the regime; we Lebanese have concocted a new “righteous cause”, in order to regain the FIRST ranking amongst our neighbouring “sheeple”.
The best ,and the only available alternative is that of the prisoner’s conditions within our ill managed Lebanese state (or currently, lack of). Yes the local penal system is flawed, and has been since our so called independence; but does this FACT justify the latest popular upsurge in the call of descent against “the machine” (and yes this is a direct reference to Pink Floyd)?
No matter how harsh an inhumane the conditions are within our local prison system; this should have been a buffer against crime, even petty crime; but I guess we in Lebanon have a different notion of what is right and what is wrong.
Yes you have the right to demonstrate “peacefully” for better conditions within our jails for your relatives and loved ones; but you also have to admit, with SHAME that they have done wrong, and dues have to be paid. Screaming, burning tires, blocking road, justifying dealing drugs for the lack of job opportunities, murder...etc; whilst your next of kin (“guests” at the hotel Roumieh) have the liberty to communicate with the media via cell phones, slashing their bodies (or other prisoner’s) with blade knives whilst setting fuel tanks on fire endangering other people’s lives is a clear signal that the 3afou 3am is something that the government (if only we had one), should not even consider.
Many had the audacity to voice their opinion, claiming that the crimes perpetrated by those they represent were because of lack of opportunities; and those very same “leaches on society” were arrogant enough to claim that drug dealing (even rape) is not like murder. WLEK TFEH ! And still some listen and promise better conditions once the necessary monies are passed through parliament. Don’t we have more pressing issues like 24h electricity, water, social security, retirement fund ....etc towards those “law abiding” citizens; before we start thinking of the rehabilitation of those who are a burden on the already depleted government coffers?
I just wish that the next time I pass by Roumieh (and it might be tomorrow), and a stone is thrown at my car I could brandish my gun and shoot at those so called mothers who are foreign to “the rule of law”, and not only to maim the lot of them, but piss on their bleeding bodies. Let them go and witness firsthand how our neighbouring countries deal with their own (and ours, SYRIA) prisoners and I dare them to demonstrate there.
THIS IS NOT LEBANON. THIS IS NOT AN INNOCENT CRY FOR BETTER CONDITIONS; THIS IS NOTHING BUT A VAIN ATTEMPT TO COMPROMISE ZIAD BAROUD AND MICHEL SULEIMAN
I say: “Let them burn, along with Roumieh”, one of the bastion of a failed state.

food for thought

whilst visiting different sites and blogs I came accross the follwing nightmarish article.
Enjoy!

By pumping up the Lebanese crisis to explosion level, Tehran and Damascus steal Middle East interest away from Annapolis conference:

After Tehran and Damascus vetoed all six candidates for the presidency to succeed pro-Syrian Emil Lahoud on Nov. 24, candidates have been dropping by the wayside almost daily. The 79-year old former minister Michel Edde was the latest to be disqualified after he took instructions in Damascus for safeguarding Syrian interests in Lebanon.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources: Tehran and Damascus have joined hands to bring the Shiite Hizballah to the fore in Beirut and sabotage the Annapolis conference to demonstrate how Tehran & Co. is calling the shots in the Middle East - not Washington.

Our sources outline the worst-case scenario - failing a breakthrough in Beirut on an agreed president in the next 48 hours.

The outgoing pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud president will exit the Baabde palace Saturday, Nov. 24, and transfer his powers to the Lebanese chief of staff Gen. Michel Suleiman, who is considered moderately pro-Syrian and a Hizballah supporter.

The army will then rally behind the general rather than the pro-Western prime minister Fouad Siniora. This will leave Siniora with the option of calling on the backing of the Sunni militias led by majority leader Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt’s Druze forces and Samir Geagea’s Christian Phalangists. This bloc will find itself ranged against the bulk of the Lebanese army and Hizballah’s armed forces.

All the ingredients for turmoil and civil strife will then be in place, with the advantage held by the anti-West grouping in terms of numbers, training and weaponry, lavishly supplied by Syria and Iran.

President George W. Bush and every world leader he can rope in have been engaged in frenzied diplomacy in the last 24 hours to fend off this development. A conflagration in Lebanon would jeopardize the US administration’s policies not only there but also in relation to Iran, Syria and the Palestinians. The Washington-Annapolis meeting would become an empty charade.

Russian president Vladimir Putin in particular has lent his weight to Washington’s effort by applying to Bashar Assad and asking him to attend the meeting and work with the US to solve the crisis over the election of a Lebanese president. The Syrian president has not so far responded.

Nicolas Sarkozy also phoned Assad, the first time a French president communicated with the Syrian president in the two years since the Hariri assassination. He too drew no response. Many of France’s foreign policy eggs repose in the Lebanese basket and their loss leaves the relationship Sarkozy hoped to develop with Damascus and Tehran going nowhere.

Another caller to the presidential palace in Damascus was Italian prime minister Roman Prodi.

For Israel, the emergence of Gen. Suleiman as Lebanon’s strongman would add a serious setback to those Israel suffered in its 2006 Lebanon War with Hizballah. The UN peacekeeping force, which is required to cooperate with the Lebanese army, would be paralyzed and the last barrier removed for keeping Hizballah out of South Lebanon and at a distance from the Israeli border.

For the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group, Damascus and Tehran, this development would cap their strategic gains of last year.

Israel’s prime minister would be better occupied dealing with this new security crisis on its borders, Israeli security sources tell DEBKAfile, than posing with Mahmoud Abbas at a photo-op in America.

Arab League foreign ministers, called into session Thursday, Nov. 22 to decide on a delegation to the US-promoted Middle East conference, postponed their Cairo meeting to Friday, for another attempt to solve the Lebanese crisis. The lines between Arab capitals have been humming day and night.

The Middle East special envoy Tony Blair traveled to Riyadh Wednesday but failed to persuade the king to send a minister to Annapolis. The Saudi ambassador to Washington will therefore head his country’s delegation. Syria is not expected to attend.

Source: DEBKA file.