The Situation In Lebanon

[Sip]

The very reason that you can CRITICIZE a democracy you're living in and not be labeled a "traitor" is what makes a democracy so great. And yet you wish to equate my comments as "bitching and moaning" or that I'm a traitor to America because I criticize it.

 

Great. So you became an American so you can criticize it. Now that's genius

 

It's the old, "if you can't beat them, join them. Then geat them?"

Edited June 30, 2007 by Sip

[Shahan Araradian]

Great. So you became an American so you can criticize it. Now that's genius

 

It's the old, "if you can't beat them, join them. Then geat them?"

What are you talking about? You don't make any sense.

 

I don't even want to directly address you any more, because you have the mentality and logic of an 8 year old in your writings.

Edited June 30, 2007 by Shahan Araradian

[Sip]

Present some valid arguments instead of personal attacks, then what you write might be of some value.

 

Why should I bother when every time you are going to repeat the same thing: "Oh you are brainwashed by Zionist Media". Do you want me to repost how many times you have said the exact same bullshit again? You know I already did it once but you have said it over and over after that again. Do you really want me to present you with an update on the new count? You really think you are in a position to claim someone is unwilling to "debate" with you? Come on now. Telling the same thing over and over and over is NOT debating. It is called spamming.

 

[Shahan Araradian]

Why should I bother when every time you are going to repeat the same thing: "Oh you are brainwashed by Zionist Media". Do you want me to repost how many times you have said the exact same bullshit again? You know I already did it once but you have said it over and over after that again. Do you really want me to present you with an update on the new count? You really think you are in a position to claim someone is unwilling to "debate" with you? Come on now. Telling the same thing over and over and over is NOT debating. It is called spamming.

You're the one trying to silence my writings. Why don't you move on to another thread instead of making this thread even longer?

 

This whole thread re-opened because of a comment YOU made to Verginne.

 

Move on... Live and let live.

 

If you have a meaningful rebuttal to my thoughts, then make them. Don't call me names and Don't try to silence me, which is what you're trying to do.

 

That's HARDLY democratic... You're a moderator. Not the leader of a totalitarian regime.

Edited June 30, 2007 by Shahan Araradian

[Sip]

What are you talking about? You don't make any sense.

 

 

Shahan, just admit it. You are entirely out of gas on your claims that people around here are "brainwashed" by Zionists. That might work in some redneck forums but in Hyeforum, you are dealing with people that are faaaaaaaar more well-read and far more aware of what is really going on in the world then those who might fall for your childish claims about how the jews control everything and how the media is what is causing people to not see reality as you see it.

 

I know you won't listen but try to form your arguments with a bit more humility and self criticism than trying to convince those who disagree with you that they are somehow brainwashed idiots. Then maybe you might have a chance to "debate". As I have told you many times before, I don't know anyone around here who watches CNN or Fox news and says "oh wow now there's some 'news'" so just let it go. Heck even the "American" people I know don't really have any faith in CNN or Fox. You are giving those media outlets far too much credit. Just let it go.

Edited June 30, 2007 by Sip

[Shahan Araradian]

Shahan, just admit it. You are entirely out of gas on your claims that people around here are "brainwashed" by Zionists. That might work in some redneck forums but in Hyeforum, you are dealing with people that are faaaaaaaar more well-read and far more aware of what is really going on in the world then those who might fall for your childish claims about how the jews control everything and how the media is what is causing people to not see reality as you see it.

 

I know you won't listen but try to form your arguments with a bit more humility and self criticism than trying to convince those who disagree with you that they are somehow brainwashed idiots. Then maybe you might have a chance to "debate". As I have told you many times before, I don't know anyone around here who watches CNN or Fox news and says "oh wow now there's some 'news'" so just let it go. Heck even the "American" people I know don't really have any faith in CNN or Fox. You are giving those media outlets far too much credit. Just let it go.

Sip, you're an imbecile. I don't want to waste my time explaining the world to someone with the logic of an 8-year-old. I'm not a masochist! I've already quoted respectable sources (dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and another respected professor) and if that doesn't mean anything to you, then I've validated my claim that you're an imbecile.

 

Imbecile == Having a mental age of three to seven years

 

Private message me if you have anything further to say, or else you're unnecessarily flooding this topic.

Edited June 30, 2007 by Shahan Araradian

[annannimusss]

Wow what happened to the discussion about Lebanon? Edited June 30, 2007 by SakoPasha

[Yervant1]

Is this the gestapo? We aren't in Soviet Armenia or Iran, my friend...

The mere fact that you are able to write freely negates your claim.

[AK-47]

Պատճառները շատ են...

1) Միչին Արեւելքի հայ գաղութը

 

2) Ամերիկահայ գաղութը

 

3) Աշխարհի հայութիւնը

 

4) Համայն մարդկութիւնը

 

 

This is only a fragment of what the Zionists have done against us. There are even more direct attacks on the Armenian people and the fatherland.

 

We never chose to side against the state of Israel, they chose to side against us! This is a fact that we must understand. Like it or not, Israel is a de facto enemy of Armenia. Why? Simple:

 

First, they are part of the Axis of Evil alliance of the governments of Turkey, Israel and United States. The States aside, the Judeo-Turkic alliance is a big problem for Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. This affects alot of stuff, notably the Armenian Genocide recognition cause in arguably the three most important states to accept the AG: the USA, Turkey and Israel. Not to mention all the military and economic aid they both whore to each other. In the States notably, the Zionist lobby works day in and day out to stop everything our small, but powerful, Armenian lobby works for. Note that the leading person to help us is a Jew by the name of Adam Schiff who is not in the Zionist hold.

 

More about the genocide, morally Israel should have been the first state to recognize the AG, way before Uruguay did. But they continue to deny and lobby for the spread of more denial. Even the rabbi union has recognized the AG but the Zionists and their authoritarian control over the government and media outlets refuse to do so. Even some of their damn historians and scholars don't recognize the genocide in an attempt to have a monopoly of Holocausts or to make it seem like the Holocaust was the first big genocide of the 20th century. Blablabla it needs Turkey, a Muslim ally...LOL Zisrael does not need Turkey, it is more the other way around. Turkey is in billions of dollars in debt, it cannot afford to lose Zisrael.

 

Then, something even more urgent and important is the Zisraeli-Azerbabooni prostitution. These two are extremely close and we all know that the so-called state of "Azerbaijan" is the single biggest threat to the fatherland at the moment. Israel directly funded and aided militarily Azerbaijan during the Artsakh liberation war!!! If that is not a big slap in the face, I don't know what is. And they continue to give Azerbaijan military training and weaponry.

Edited July 1, 2007 by AK-47

[AK-47]

On the topic of some of the big problems the United States has, I suggest everyone go and watch Sicko, the new Michael Moore movie. It is very good, I watched it and left the theatres in deep thought and appreciative of my country's system. Edited July 1, 2007 by AK-47

[AK-47]

Wow what happened to the discussion about Lebanon?

Sarkis, this has more to do with Lebanon than it seems. Lebanon is a Zionist drawn plan that is being accomplished step-by-step. Lipananuh kdzver ou verchatser eh.

[annannimusss]

I am not a big fan of Israel, but I fully support the Lebanese government and I belive in my heart that they are not Zionist puppets.

[AK-47]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/99B...3A7BC1DB7F8.htm

 

Interesting analysis to the July War in Lebanon last year focusing on why Israel had such a tough time against HizbAllah yet defeated the Arab armies so simply in 1967.

[AK-47]

Well, the elections to replace two assassinated MPs is over and the result was a win by the opposition of Aoun-Tashnag alliance. Gemayel had some strong, insulting words for our Armenian community in Lebanon and especially the Tashnagtsutyun. He has committed career suicide and his Kataeb party and notably himself will lose alot of dignity and credibility.

 

Hoss: Metn polls prove democracy in Lebanon is an 'illusion'

Politicians, newspapers continue to debate implications of by-elections' outcome

 

Daily Star staff

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

 

BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss said Monday "the Metn by-election ended politically without a victor and a vanquished." "There was a loser, but there was no winner," Hoss said in a statement. "If the contest was a contest of sizes, then both competitors were effectively downsized," he added.

 

Hoss said the polls had proven again that "democracy in Lebanon is an illusion where money and emotions rule."

 

Higher Shiite Council Vice President Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan said "the achievement of the Metn and Beirut by-elections showed that the Lebanese people are wide-awake while dealing with controversial national issues."

 

Qabalan called for the formation of a national-unity government which he said, "should be a good reference to all conflicts and problems."

 

The Armenian Tashnag Party voiced regret Monday that an "electoral battle over one parliamentary seat has turned into an attempt to settle accounts with a party that has never known extremism."

 

"The irrational and heated statements delivered by some Lebanese leaders are nothing but an outburst of anger that showed the hatred they have been hiding for decades," said a Tashnag statement. "Once they lost their temper they expressed their rancor very clearly."

 

Meanwhile, former MP Gabriel Murr clarified on Monday that his comments in a televised interview a day earlier were targeting the administration of the Tashnag Party and not the Armenian community.

 

"My friendship with the Armenian community and my respect for it are unlimited," the former MP said.

 

Murr urged Armenians to change the Tashnag administration, and the Tashnag to change the way it deals with elections.

 

Aram I, Catholicos of the House of Cilicia, said Monday the results of the by-elections are secondary while what is worrying are divisions among the Christians in Lebanon in general and the Metn in particular.

 

"No one should be happy with his victory ... because the Christian unity has been defeated by partition [of its members]," he said in a statement.

 

The catholicos also said "we do not accept at all unfounded accusations targeting the Armenian sect."

 

"The Armenian community is an example of patriotism," he added.

 

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?ed...rticle_id=84373

Edited August 8, 2007 by AK-47

[Dave]

I heard that the Tashnags want to sue Murr and Gemayel for their bad comments about Armenians, and for "encouraging sectarian strife".

[AK-47]

Here's a good article on the situation.

[abass80]

Another good article about the outcome of the elections by Robert Fisk!

 

Robert Fisk: Lebanese strike a blow at US-backed government

Published: 07 August 2007

 

They've done it again. The Arabs have, once more, followed democracy and voted for the wrong man.

 

Just as the Palestinians voted for Hamas when they were supposed to vote for the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, so the Christian Maronites of Lebanon appear to have voted for a man opposed to the majority government of Fouad Siniora in Beirut. Camille Khoury - with a strong vote from the Armenian Tashnak party - won by 418 votes the seat that belonged to Pierre Gemayel, murdered last November by gunmen supposedly working for the Syrian security services.

 

While the Maronite vote had increased against Gemayel's showing in 2005 elections, the result was a stunning blow to the American-backed government - how devastating that phrase "American-backed" has now become in the Middle East - in Lebanon and allowed Hizbollah's ally, ex-General Michel Aoun to claim that "they cannot beat me". Mr Aoun is a candidate in presidential elections later this year.

 

True, the voting figures showed huge support for Pierre Gemayel's father Amin - himself an ex-president- who was standing for the parliamentary seat of his murdered son. Although he was a weak and fractious leader - Amin paid a state visit to Damascus to re-cement "fraternal" ties after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon - he proved himself a brave man in the aftermath of his son's murder, calling upon Lebanese to support the government rather than submit once more to the domination of Syria.

 

Khoury's score in the Metn hills above Beirut - and a 418 conquest out of 79,000 votes is hardly a crushing political victory - yet again emphasises the divisions among the Christians of Lebanon who have traditionally fought each other - rather than their more obvious enemies - throughout Lebanese history. The Crusaders fought each other in Tyre when Saladin was at the gates of the city; in 1990, Mr Aoun's own Lebanese army fought the Christian Phalangist militia while still trying to defend themselves from the Syrians. They lost both battles.

 

Amin's father Pierre - grandfather of the MP murdered last November - founded the Phalange in 1936 after being inspired by the Nazi Berlin Olympics. "I thought Lebanon needed some of this order," he admitted to me shortly before his death; the original Phalange dressed in brown shirts and gave the Hitler salute. But they had turned themselves into a neo-respectable right-wing party by 1982 when they were enthusiastically supported by the invading Israeli army which hoped that Amin's brother Bashir would be elected president. Alas, Bashir turned out to be less pro-Israeli than the then-defence minister, Ariel Sharon, hoped, and was himself murdered in a bomb attack shortly before his inauguration.

 

Old Pierre of Olympics fame is long dead - he did not even know his own age when I last spoke to him - and Amin's brother and son were both assassinated. For the government, there was one electoral light yesterday: the victory of Mohamed Itani in Beirut, a Sunni Muslim who scored 85 per cent of the vote for the seat of Walid Eido who was himself blown up by a bomb in June.

 

One begins to wonder, in Lebanon, whether the election results are more surprising than the means by which MPs are liquidated.

[AK-47]

General of the army Michel Sleiman elected new president of Lebanon. Dawn of a new era?

 

-----------------------------------

Sleiman elected Lebanon’s new president

 

http://www.france24.com/files/story/20080525-liban-president-m_0.jpg

 

Sunday 25 May 2008

After 19 postponements in six months, Lebanese lawmakers elected Gen. Michel Sleiman as president, ending a deadlock which has left the post vacant since November.

 

Lebanese lawmakers elected Michel Sleiman as president of their deeply divided nation Sunday in a critical first step towards ending a crippling 18-month political crisis.

 

At a packed swearing-in ceremony in Beirut, Sleiman took the oath of office, pledging to protect the country's constitution, sovereignty and independence.

 

His terse swearing-in statement was greeted by a standing ovation inside Lebanon’s parliament building, where the ceremony was held, while firecrackers and celebratory gunshots erupted on the streets of Beirut.

 

Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony ended a political deadlock between rival political blocs that had left the nation without a president since November.

 

Wearing a black suit and grey tie, Sleiman called for a minute of silence for Lebanon’s “martyrs” shortly after taking the oath – a poignant reminder of the violent confrontations and strings of assassinations that have gripped the country since the Feb. 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

 

Speaking to a gathering of Lebanese parliamentarians as well as foreign dignitaries at the ceremony, Sleiman appealed for unity in a fractiously divided nation that earlier this month hovered precariously on the brink of civil war.

 

"I call upon all of you, politicians and citizens, to start a new phase called Lebanon and the Lebanese... in order to achieve the interests of the nation," he said.

 

The election comes six months after the presidential post was vacated by Syrian ally Emile Lahoud, a period during which Lebanon’s competing sectarian leaders repeatedly failed to elect a successor.

 

With each faction accusing the other of serving external masters, the Lebanese political crisis is widely viewed as an extension of rifts between Shia and Sunni Muslim powers as well as the confrontation pitting the West – especially the United States – against Iran and Syria.

 

Sunday’s ceremony is being billed as a “reconciliation wedding” by a population weary of their politicians’ inability to end the country’s crippling power standoff.

 

Indeed the guest list at the ceremony reflects the country’s rapprochement hopes. The 200-odd dignitaries at the event include Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, a US congressional delegation, the foreign ministers of France, Syria and Iran as well as Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

 

It was Qatari mediation during talks in Doha last week that brokered a deal to end a recent bloody confrontation between pro-and anti-Syrian groups that killed 65 people and plunged Lebanon to the brink of civil war.

 

A neutral figure in a divided nation

 

While in most countries the election of a military chief as president would raise alarm bells, in Lebanon, Sleiman is viewed as a compromise candidate for both, the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority led by Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, as well as the opposition led by Hezbollah.

 

But while the two opposing blocs have long agreed on Sleiman, they have repeatedly failed to agree on the makeup of a new cabinet, postponing the presidential vote 19 times since Lahoud’s departure.

 

A Maronite Christian with a 30-year military career, Sleiman is nevertheless seen as a neutral political figure.

 

“The army is my life and I always tried to shelter it from political and denominational conflicts in a country where the political organization rests on a denominational basis,” Sleiman told FRANCE 24 in April. “I will not allow it to be divided.”

 

Like all the public office of the country, the Lebanese army is built on denominational model that is designed to maintain a power balance between the country’s 18 religious sects.

 

But the pressures of uniting Lebanon are immense. Days before his election, Sleiman warned against pinning all of Lebanon’s political hopes on his shoulders. "I cannot save the country on my own," he told the pro-opposition daily As-Safir. "This mission requires the efforts of all.”

 

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20080525-lebano...&navi=MONDE

Edited May 25, 2008 by AK-47