A PATTERN THAT I MISSED

I was writing a few weeks ago about patterns of dictatorship and Hezbollah: the demonstrrations, the cult of personality, the intelligence, the propaganda.

I missed this.

Nasrallah Re-elected as Hizbullah Chief
Hizbullah concluded its General Conference which lasted for several months in the making, and endorsed a new political doctrine, the second of its kind after the "open letter" in 1985.
Hizbullah issued a communique declaring that the party has endorsed "a number of organizational amendments that fit the new developing nature of its movement and path in the recent years on various aspects."

The communique also announced the election of the party's Shura Council members and their designations for the new term as follows: Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (Secretary-General), Sheikh Naim Qassem (Deputy Secretary-General), Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek (Head of Sharia Committee), Sayyed Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed (Head of Political Bureau), Sayyed Hashim Safieddine (Head of Executive Council), Hussein Khalil (Secretary-General's Political Assistant), MP Mohammed Raad (Head of Loyalty to Resistance bloc).

The secretary-general will hold a press conference in the next few days to declare the new political doctrine, said Hizbullah's communique.

Why all these dictators get re-elected all the time? I've seen no democracy in this world where people elect the same man for more than two mandates at the leadership of a political party.

THE IRANIAN PROPAGANDA STRIKES BACK

Do you remember last year's photoshoped Iranian missiles? 

Well, it seems this time it is an Iranian ship that's allegedly being photoshoped. 

After Israel released photos it said proved that a huge shipment of weapons for Hezbollah came from Tehran, Iranian news agencies publish evidence showing that the photos are forged. 

Israeli naval sources recently claimed that they found a large cache of Iranian-made arms when they stormed a vessel near Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. 

They claimed that the ship was heading for the Hezbollah resistance movement, either in Lebanon or Syria. 

Iran instantly dismissed the claims, issuing a statement with which it condemned Israel's many acts of piracy in international waters. 

But the Israeli government persisted in its accusations, releasing what it claimed to be photos and documents in an effort to implicate the Iranian government in the matter. 

The photos and documents were carried by a number of leading newspapers in the West, including The Los Angeles Times. 

"The Israeli regime has made a fool of itself with regards to what it claims to be evidence that Iran was sending weapons to Hezbollah," IRNA news agency said on Monday. 

"Take a close look at the photos, one of which merely shows a couple of boxes labeled 'Ministry of Sepah' without providing corroborative evidence that they came from Iran, and you will see the huge gaffe committed by Israel," it added. 

The article explained that Iran's Ministry of Sepah gave its place to the Defense Ministry more than twenty years ago. "So this begs the question of what the emblem of a nonexistent body was doing on the cargo?"

ARE WOMEN IN LEBANON ALL TO THE SPA?

Cause in the government there are only 2.
In the Parliament around 3 or 4. Correct me if I am mistaken.

What are women so not into politics in this country?

LEBANON, WARNED?

Here we go again.
There is a government to be held responsible now.


Lebanon has reportedly received warning of a "massive" aggression Israel plans against Hizbullah, the daily An-Nahar reported Tuesday.
The report by An-Nahar Washington's correspondent Khalil Flaihan said international military authorities have warned Lebanon that Israel plans to launch a massive attack targeting Hizbullah positions.

It said Israel is also likely to "widen its aggression to include large areas of Lebanon" under the pretext that Hizbullah continues to receive "heavy and sophisticated weapons" via Syria.

Diplomatic sources in Beirut did not rule out the possibility that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could raise the issue of the seized ship alledgedly carrying weapons for Hizbullah and the explosions that took place in Khirbit Selim and Teir Felsay as well as the Katyusha firing from the southern town of Houla.

The sources pointed out that Natanyahu would exploit these incidents to accuse Hizbullah of breaching Resolution 1701 "posing a real threat to Israel's security and that its armed forces are ready for any emergency."

They said the U.S. and French presidents, however, are unlikely to approve any new Israeli offensive against Lebanon.

SO, ARE WE PREPARING FOR WAR?

A diplomat I was interviewing (off the record) last week told me it's gonna happen soon. The Israelis seem to have lost patience, or at least that's what they are hinting at. The ship scheme was obviously very well put together. The US spotted it ever since it left Iran, but only when it reached the vicinity of Israel was it arrested. It had to happen here and it had to be the IDF to seize it so that the pressure would be in the right place.

So here's the pretext: "We're sick of it we wanna end the whole issue with the Lebanese resistance," says the Israeli war propaganda.

Now they are waiting for the excuse, be it soldiers kidnapped or a plane struck by a missile.

I wrote an article about a possible strike in spring next year. Today I found a statement from Hezbollah in the Observer. Obviously, I have to rely on it since I am working for a media outlet perceived as being inclined to March 14, and the March 8 politicians ( Hezbollah and Amal) are always "busy" when we call them.

Hizbullah is rapidly rearming in preparation for a new conflict with Israel and is reinforcing fixed defense positions north of the Litani river, the British Observer newspaper reported.
"Having lost many of its bunkers in the south, Hizbullah is preparing a new strategy to defend villages there," it said.

"Sure, we are rearming, we have even said that we have far more rockets and missiles than we did in 2006," a Hizbullah commander told the Observer.

"We had to blow up or leave some of our bunkers and fighting positions, but we still have plenty of capabilities in the south. We expect the Israelis to come soon, if not this winter, then they will wait until spring, when the ground isn't too soft for their tanks," he added.

THE SITUATION UNFOLDS

Hezbollah says no, they were not our weapons.

Israel gives details and even movies of the arrested ship.

UN says it has no evidence of arms smuggling into Lebanon.

Does Israel care? I don't think so. What they are saying through all the footage of the ship and with all the details released to the media (how many rockets, type, how the clues match the type of weaponry used by Hezbollah, and even papers of the ship allegedly headed for Latakia harbor in Syria) say that " Look guys, UN is a tired incompetent organization, Hezbollah is a danger to everybody around here, and we need to do something about Iran before it's too late. Who's gonna do that?"

Who do you think the West is going to believe?
We have a cultural difference here. As one of my professors in political science keeps repeating, the Israelis speak the language of the West: media awareness campaign, transparency, clear information provided in English, clear construction of the arguments and the visual proof provided.

Hezbollah clearly does not speak the language of the West. No clear arguments, no visual proof that Israel is wrong, no arguments. Some say that this is it's charm. But, they barely opened their mouths 24 hours after the whole scandal.

WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE FOLKS?

The news of the day:

Israeli special forces on Wednesday seized control of an Iranian vessel carrying arms intended for Hezbollah, in a daring pre-dawn raid not far from the coast of Cyprus.

The ship was believed to have set out from Iran and later docked in Yemen and Sudan before sailing through the Suez Canal. Its final destination was believed to be either Syria or Lebanon.

The Antigua-flagged ship was discovered during routine patrols conducted by the Navy, according to a communiqué from the Israel Defense Forces Spokespersons Unit.

It makes me wonder as my editor has been wondering for a while: what the hell are these guys doing? Last night there was the UN report on how dangerous the Hezbollah weapons are for the region's peace. And here they are: the IDF seizes THE weapons!, coming exactly from Iran and going to, surprise!, Hezbollah.

In the meantime, there is stuff going on behind the closed doors. Two European countries in the UNIFIL are sort of diplomatically, silently quarreling over who's to be in charge of the peace keeping mission. The Italians should leave the command in February 2010 together with some 1000 troops. The Spanish, who have been in charge of the south eastern sector and have been doing quite a good job there (visited their sector several times), are the ones willing to take the leadership. But wait, not so fast.
While the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had already received congratulations for the move, the little devil's tail had to come in. Netanyahu, the Israeli head of government, has requested most "secretly and personally" to prime minister Berlusconi to keep Claudio Graziano, the present UNIFIL chief, in place. The Spanish were furious. They still are.

The Spanish newspapers are blaming the Italians. The Italians are praising their general telling that it's only because of him that the tripartite meetings with the IDF, LAF and UNIFIL. He is friends with Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese president, and is also very much esteemed by the Israelis.

The Spanish still believe they are getting the command in February, sources from the embassy in Beirut say.

But, why all these games? Why should the Italians stay and what is wrong with the Spanish?

The quarrel helps a bit the Israeli case. The UNIFIL troops are to get fewer and fewer. Germany wants to withdraw, the Italians want to withdraw. Until now the Spanish and the French are the only ones who didn't get bored of this 30 year peace mission.

Meanwhile, the IDF seems to build up a pretext. I have this deja vu about weapons of mass destruction already. UN says Hezbollah has weapons, Iran is busy with its own internal opposition, Israel finds the weapons, makes a big deal out of it, although a month before the Germans found another ship and it didn't get so much publicity. Then there is some rocket fire once in a while in South Lebanon, Israeli planes fly over Beirut, and life goes on.

Or just seems to do so?

The only actor in this show who has not said anything and hasn't even moved a finger is none other than Hezbollah.

BACK TO ENGLISH

I neglected this blog for a long time. But that's because I have been trying to update the Romanian language one and sort of run out of time between work, my studies and blogging and other stuff happening in my new life in a new country with a new job and new dreams.

When I look at my own dreams and views and what I wrote back then when I had just arrived in Lebanon (a year and three months ago) I smile and even giggle. Lebanon changed a lot in me and I had to learn a lot to be able to understand the people around me, my neighbor at the second floor. I am a 30 year old woman doing her Master's degree in a country like Lebanon. Not an easy thing to do, when you have to leave a job and a house back home.

There were a few times I wanted to just pack my bags and run back. But I didn't and I'm glad because I'm gonna make it. So this is a new beginning for me. And my stories in English will be back online.