Lebanon: The Hezbollah-France twist

France and other powers, including Canada, are exploiting the Beirut port disaster. Their recipe is “white man’s burden.” Macron of France is in the forefront. He presupposes that the people of Lebanon are not capable of exercising their sovereignty, that they cannot exercise control over their lives themselves and that there is a need for a power standing above them, usurping all that belongs to them and giving nothing to them in return. This is the notion of a “benevolent dictator” or of the “divine right of kings”, notions needed by the plutocracy, those who claim that they are destined to be the “trustees” of the people, because they alone consider themselves capable of ruling over the people.

By GHASSAN KADI 

The intriguing twists and turns following the catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s Sea Port have thus far had international repercussions, beginning with the visit of French President Marcon to Beirut just three days after the disaster; a visit that could hardly be classified as a visit of a foreign head of state to another country.

Marcon did not go to Lebanon just to meet with Lebanese President Aoun, even though the two did meet.

Lebanon’s future: Lebanon’s Mutasarrifate Take II

Ghassan Kadi’s thoughts about the crisis facing Lebanon

(August 10) – Most of the current instability in the Levant and the whole Middle East is inadvertently and inadvertently a result of the obsession about Israel’s security; both from the Israeli as well as the American sides. That said, many of the region’s problems are deep-rooted and go back to times before Israel was created and before America had any influence.

Canadian ‘aid’ to Beirut: Let us remember Qana

Graves of Lebanese civilians massacred by Israeli airstrikes on Qana on July 29, 2006 | Feyrouz

By Tony Seed

It is not acceptable that Canada which has troops and special forces stationed in Lebanon, Iraq and Israel is offering statements of regret and sympathy for the victims while making aid conditional on Lebanon making “reforms” dictated by the big powers. Given its hostility to Lebanon and how it has militarized aid to the Caribbean in the name of hurricane or earthquake relief such as Haiti, or arms to Saudi Arabia to attack the Yemeni people despite the endemic cholera, we need to be vigilant.

Heartfelt condolences and solidarity to the people of Beirut

Vigil at the Lebanese consulate in Montreal, August 6, 2020.

A reflection, from a Facebook post, August 5, 2020

My heartfelt condolences and solidarity to the people of Beirut, the families and victims, the comrades from Beirut, the city which I came to love, having spent a memorable week there in summer of 2014. A huge disaster and tragedy on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am only glad that so far those whom I came to know are safe.

On a personal note, I owe a debt in addition to the Lebanese community in Halifax which dates back to the 1920s if not before and who schooled me in the tapestry of their rich history, culture and politics, beginning from the time in 1982 when we marched together to oppose the Israeli invasion. From that moment we shared weal and woe on many issues, as have the Canadian and Lebanese people. In October 2002 Father John of the Greek Orthodox Church freely provided facilities of his parish for the launch of our Dossier on Palestine, defying the united pressure of local Falange and Zionist elements, as he did on other occasions.

Russia’s new pre-emptive move in Lebanon

By GHASSAN KADI*

Piece from an Israeli missile that landed in the eastern Lebanese town of Rayak near the border with Syria on February 10, 2018

Russia has put herself, for better or for worse, in a position that requires a huge role in the Levant; perhaps much bigger than what Russia bargained for on the eve of the Russian “intervention” in Syria on the 28^th of September 2015.

The initial Russian-led attack on ISIS in Syria was highly successful until a glitch was added to the picture when Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 a few weeks later in November 2015.

Lebanon: The fall and the fall of Hariri

This week Daniel Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, wrote in the Haaretz newspaper that the Saudis were meddling yet again in Lebanese politics, forcing Hezbullah into greater political prominence, to provide the pretext for Israel to renew its confrontation with the Lebanese militia and thereby stoke a new war between Israel and Lebanon and Syria.

In his words: “Israel and Saudi Arabia are fully aligned in this regional struggle, and the Saudis cannot help but be impressed by Israel’s increasing assertiveness to strike at Iranian threats in Syria … When the moment of truth arrives, Israel’s allies, with the United States in the lead, should give it full backing.”

Politics in Lebanon itself is complex, largely due to the confessional system inherited from French colonialism. Ghassan Kadi gives a brief background on Saad Hariri and offers some thoughts on the reasons behind Hariri’s sudden resignation. With events in the region proceeding at a dizzying pace, and especially the news of arrests in Saudi Arabia, which happened after Ghassan wrote this article, some of the thoughts expressed may merely represent a snapshot in time as the landscape keeps changing, but essentially his article analyzes Saudi Arabia’s attempts to regain control over Lebanon. – TS

Word. US State Dept. spokesperson on Israel’s right to launch wars at will

“MS. PSAKI: Well, we will have a statement on this that may be going out during the briefing, in my name. So if it does, I’m happy to reiterate that, but you should have that in your inboxes soon. We support Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense and continue to urge all parties to respect the blue line between Israel and Lebanon, as prescribed by UNSCR 1701. We also, of course, condemn the act of violence and will be watching the situation closely.

Nasrallah’s speech affirms unity between Resistance factions, warns of Western plots in the region

By SAMI KLEIB, al-akbar english

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a speech he delivered in Beirut’s southern suburbs on July 25, 2014 | Haitham Moussawi

Beirut (July 25) – Now is not the time to talk about disappointments and the past. It is more important for the Resistance to win in Palestine because its victory is a further step towards undermining the foundations of the other axis that protects Israel. The other axis includes not only the United States and a large part of the West but also a significant number of Arab regimes.

Hezbollah not only supports Hamas, it is willing to do whatever it takes to provide support.

A despicable legacy within an unworthy cause – The death of Ariel Sharon

By NATHAN J FREEMAN

AFTER spending eight years in a coma, Israeli general and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon died on January 11, 2014. The very large numbers of people who suffered greatly under his aegis recall his brutal legacy with continued demands for justice. Meanwhile the world of darkest reaction has invented the term “warrior-statesman” to praise the man who will, in fact, go down in history as the murderer he was. Besides other crimes, Sharon is best known to the world’s people as the Butcher of Beirut for his role in enabling the slaughter of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp during September 16 to 18, 1982.

An exposé of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon: impunity

One Norwegian officer left Lebanon with a typed report on torture taped to his chest, ROBERT FISK recounts in a commentary on Odd Karsten Tveit’s latest book, Goodbye Lebanon: Israel’s First Defeat.