No citizenship out of sectarianism

Al-mujtama' al-madani ("Civic gathering") is a non-denominational Lebanese group which advocates the end of political feudalism and confessionalism in the country through public awareness campaigns under the banner "Stop sectarianism before it stops us".
The latest shocking campaign includes bogus billboards and ads with a blatantly sectarian content. It takes a while to realize that they are fake. Or maybe they're not?

Shi'a car

Only for Maronites

Scenes of conflict rehearsal: the Lebanese Forces

Some weeks ago I received an email from an old acquaintance of mine in Kisrawan who happens to be a fervent supporter of the Lebanese Forces. He wrote that "the Lebanese Forces will come back to the territory", which I interpret as "the LF will be back in town".
Was he using figurative language or are the Lebanese Forces seriously thinking to get rearmed and operational? The news of the day is that a group of Lebanese Forces armed men were arrested while they were going to a training session near the village of Chahtoul in Kisrawan. The men subsequently claimed they were security personnel for LBC and this claim was unconvincingly backed by LBC's chief Pierre Daher. Who knows if this is going to have an impact on the rift inside LBC between Pierre Daher (and Marcel Ghanem) on one side and Sitrida Ja'ja' (the wife of Samir Ja'ja') on the other?

If you are high on conspiracy theories, you will be delighted to read this report about an alleged meeting among Samir Ja'ja', Walid Jumblatt, the chief of the Mossad and the CIA Cyprus bureau director. It is not sure whether The Phantom Blot attended the meeting or if he was partying in Ayia Napa.
Alternatively, you can delight yourself with reports of alleged telephone contacts between men of the Mossad, of Samir Ja'ja and of Ahmad Fatfat. Gyro Gearloose was eavesdropping, no doubt.

On a lighter note, this is a satirical sketch depicting Samir Ja'ja' as a puppet of the Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. (Alert the Mossad and Brent Sadler: this is a different Nasrallah).

Salafi militant dies at Syrian-Lebanese border

A Sunni radical militant blew himself up earlier today at Jdeidet Yabous, the Syrian border crossing point on the highway between Beirut and Damascus, after being confronted by two security officers as he was trying to enter Lebanon with forged documents. According to the official Syrian news agency SANA, the dead militant, called Omar Abdallah also known as Omar Hamra, was the military leader of Tawhid wa'l-jihad, a militant group which was allegedly linked to (and possibly founded by) late Iraq insurgency's leader Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi.

This bit of news went nearly unnoticed on Western-oriented media. I imagine it would have been problematic to explain to the audience why the event doesn't fit the line "blame Syria for everything". They may have had to explain that the Syrian government itself (usually presented as a sponsor of Hezbollah, and therefore of "Islamic terrorism", whatever it means) has a problem with Sunni radical groups who want to overthrow the current status quo. Maybe it would have been even more embarrassing to guess why a Salafi anti-regime militant was trying to sneak into Lebanon.
Is anyone scrutinizing the activity of Salafi extremist groups that are now operating in Northern Lebanon, sometimes under the shadow of Sa'ad ad-Din al-Hariri's Future Movement? Is anyone scrutinizing the activity of Salafi extremist groups in Palestinian camps such as 'Ayn al-Hilweh or Nahr al-Bared?
Is it possible that the US, while kicking Syria out of Lebanon, are unintentionally paving the way for an infiltration of Al-Qa'idah in the country?

These questions remained unanswered in my mind as I followed the latest update about Britney Spears and a report about the possible comeback of the Spice Girls: the usual flood of useless news.

Lebanese minister assassinated in Beirut

Pierre Amin Gemayel, the acting minister of industry and son of former president Amin Gemayel, was assassinated in Beirut this afternoon. Self-styled "experts" and resident commentators have already joined the bandwagon of those who blame the Syrian government for this killing, even though every person with a spare dime of wisdom realizes it is a little bit too early to jump to any sort of conclusions.

I would like to note down a few personal considerations:

1. Pierre Amin Gemayel was a lesser figure in the Lebanese political landscape. He did not have the stature of either his late uncle (the former president Bashir Gemayel) or his late grandfather Pierre, the founder of the Kata'ib/Phalanges Libanaises, a party of clearly Fascist ideological affiliation that played a big role in Lebanese politics from the late 1930s all through the 1980s. The Phalanges have become insignificant and marginal in recent years, also because of the internal rift between their leader Karim Pakradouni (who eventually sided with the pro-Syrian bloc) and the so-called "correctionist base" who preferred an alliance with the right-wing Lebanese Forces. Pierre Amin Gemayel won a seat in the last parliamentary election only because of a last-minute deal in the Northern Metn constituency, where the rival list of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Michel Murr obtained a landslide victory. He was brought into the Saniora-Hariri cabinet only because they needed to appoint a Maronite Christian personality who was neither impalatable (as most Lebanese Forces members) nor unrepresentative (as most of the politicians belonging to the Qornet Shahwan gathering).

2. This assassination, and the almost immediate pointing the finger of blame at Syria, happened on the same day when Syria and Iraq restored diplomatic relations after 26 years. It is no secret that British envoys were dispatched to Damascus during the last weeks in order to secure Syrian co-operation in a solution of the Iraqi quagmire. In other words, after demonising it as part of the "axis of evil" over the past five years, the UK and the US have asked Syria's help to sort out the mess. Why would you stage a disruptive assassination on the very same day when you get out of the outcast role you've been confined to over the last five years? Wouldn't it be foolish, even according to the parameters of the Syrian regime? In fact, naming the only country that benefits from this development is so obvious I don't even want to waste my time elaborating about it. (Hint: starts with 'I').

3. As As'ad Abu Khalil writes,

The UN Security Council today condemned the assassination of Pierre Gemayyel and considered it a "violation of Lebanon's sovereignty" (!?). The same Security Council did not condemn the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and did not consider it a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.

4. This assassination comes in a moment of political turmoil when the Saniora-Hariri cabinet is very shaky. Six Shi'a cabinet ministers resigned last week in protest about the call for the institution of an international court that would judge the alleged killers of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The resignation, which leaves the cabinet grossly unrepresentative of the complex fabric of the Lebanese society, actually revolves about the failure of the "national dialogue" (al-hiwar al-watani) initiative.
This was an attempt at discussing a revision of the power-sharing formula which operates within the inherently consociative Lebanese political system. Hezbollah, Amal and the FPM (uncorrectly depicted by Western mainstream media as pro-Syrian, therefore evil) insist on having a number of cabinet ministers that would allow them to act as a blocking minority, if need be. Hezbollah had promised to stage a series of massive protests after his requests for greater representation fell on deaf ears and most people were waiting for something to happen somewhere, at some point. The opposition camp is now left wrongfooted and in relative disarray: the funeral on Thursday will allow the ruling majority to take to the streets. Again, it is fair to ask who benefits from political stalemate and an increased polarization that makes a compromise less likely to reach.

5. It is interesting to remind that, in the past, Christian leaders (such as Tony Franjieh and Dany Chamoun) have been killed by other Christians, vying for political leadership over the Maronite community. It is also interesting to note that the political consequences of Gemayel's assassination could result in substantially thwarting Michel Aoun's bid for the presidency of the republic.

6. It is unlikely that the situation in Lebanon evolves in the short term into a full-fledged civil war, mainly because no political group or militia has the capability or the potential to overcome the other ones. However, Gemayel's assassination has unleashed widespread fear. I believe the country will remain in a state of chronic instability with clashes among groups of thugs and sporadic assassinations here and there.
Nothing new under the sun, someone could say.

Marsa Alam, Egypt

Enjoying a few days of diving, sunbathing and swimming with sea turtles and dolphins:

Can you spot the dolphins?

Happy October Revolution Day

Just being sarcastic here.

Saddam Hussein's death sentence: a Salafi fatwa

According to PRISM, shaykh Hamed al-'Ali has issued a few hours ago this fatwa about Saddam Hussein's death sentence, apparently in response to the question whether the former ruler of Iraq should be considered a shahid (martyr) if he was executed on behalf of the government-appointed tribunal.
Saddam Hussein hasn't been completely rehabilitated yet by militant radical Islamic groups, but the fatwa mentions God's mercy upon him and calls for more unity among the insurgent groups in Iraq. Note how the text questions how many Kurds have been killed in internecine conflicts between Mustafa Barzani's KDP and Talabani's PUK militias rather than in the infamous Anfal campaign.

Israeli cluster bombs kill four civilians a day

Please watch this video about the indiscriminate dissemination of IDF cluster bombs in Southern Lebanon.

US military sources: Iraq sliding into chaos

The New York Times has published this slide, shown at a briefing of the United States Central Command, commenting how it could be read as a stark warning about the difficult course of events in Iraq and how it surely mirrors growing concern by some US military officers.