Hezbollah's Putsch - Day One
Michael J. Totten
BEIRUT – I returned to Beirut after eight months and a hot summer war and found that the city had little changed on the surface. My old neighborhood in West Beirut was intact. Civil war reconstruction continued downtown. More restaurants and pubs had opened close-in on the east side of the city. Solidere sported a brand-new Starbucks. Beirut did not appear to be reeling from war. Post-Syrian gentrification had proceeded as scheduled.
On second glance, though, all was not well. I was the only guest in my eight-story hotel, and I genuinely shocked the staff when I stepped into the lobby first thing in the morning. “Why are you still here?” one bartender asked me. Almost all my friends and even acquaintances left the country during the July War and hadn’t returned. Milk was still hard to come by in grocery stores and even some restaurants because the Israeli Air Force destroyed Lebanon’s milk factory. Party and sectarian flags were flown on the streets in abundance, a tell-tale sign that the post-Syrian patriotism and unity were coming apart.
All that and, you know, the private army of an enemy state was threatening to topple the government.
Thanks!
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Where's part 2?
Get up you slacker!
States don't fail because they're multi-cultural. Our multi-culti state is fairly successful.
During the short time I was in Lebanon, I saw a lot of things that reminded me of Ireland, another mostly-unstable state that, until recently was constantly divided by sectarianism. Ireland became a successful state when it managed to crawl out from under the oppressive thumb of their neighbor, Great Britain. They did this by joining the EU and using their business connections in the United States.
Great Britain never encouraged a strong Ireland. The EU and America did. When Ireland's economy began to thrive, constant sectarian warfare lost its appeal in the North and the South (if you thought the South had nothing to do with the 'troubles' in the North, you'd be wrong)
Lebanon is obviously being manipulated by its neighbors - the source of the problem isn't in Beirut, it's in Damascus and Tehran. Not coincidentally, the source of many of the world's problems is located in the same place.
As for Lebanon: It was a stable, prosperous, free and democratic nation for some time before certain external forces worked to rip them apart. Mary's right.
"Stable, prosperous, free and democratic"? Indeed. Except that ever since Lebanon was carved out of the territory of the expired Ottoman empire after World War I, on land that traditionally had been under control of various governments centered in Damascus, all governments in Beirut had purposely avoided taking a national census. This was done in order to enable the perpetually shrinking christian arab communities to claim parity with the various moslem arab communities relative to power sharing.
I am old enough and have seen enough of the world to know better than to give credence to the conventional wisdoms by which most Americans typically view foreign affairs. And I tag societies for what they are, not what they might become under laboratory petri dish circumstances that none of you shall ever see.
The Ottoman empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, Lebanon and now Iraq are failed states. So too is Canada, whose unity depends more on political sleight-of-hand than on the genuine desire of Francophones and Anglophones to create a common society based on a common culture. For that matter, the UNO has been a failed state right from the beginning, and in the fullness of time, the European Union shall fall prey to the differing interests of its constituent nations -- each with its own unique cultural and historical baggage.
As for the United States, it has in fact survived because the white European-Americans whose forefathers put this country together have until now succeded in imposing their culture upon all others who reside in country.
If and when there arises evidence that this European-American culture has failed to deculturize the spanish-speaking millions who continue to flood across our borders, that will mark the beginning of the end for the unity of this country. And it will not be long after that before cracks begin appearing in the map of what for so long has been the United States of America. So take heed in regard to such warning signs.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
At one point, some comic came on to discuss news that I had missed: Quebec has apparently been declared a "nation" within Canada, with a fleur d' lis as its symbol. I'm guessing that's related to Arnold's observation.
The comic proceeded to identify other new "nations" within Canada, each with their own distinctive symbols (including a raised middle finger). He kept dividing, and dividing, with lots of jokes that I'm sure made a lot of sense to Canadians, but went over my head. And by the time he was done, he declared that each and every viewer was a nation unto him- or herself. So if Canada's a failed state, they seem to find failure pretty amusing.
You sure attract the freaks in your comments section (note I posted there several times and happily include myself amongst them).
Do you really need comments? Your pieces are so much better than your run-of-the-mill blog post.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.