Lebanon's Hariri says ready to form govt with Hezbollah

[dead0man]

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very strange

[Famous Mortimer]

He's been in government with Hezbollah before.

This isn't anything new.

[dead0man]

Not new, but dumb.  It's stupid to be in bed with the people that murdered your father and your friends.

[Indy Texas]

And to think they once called Lebanon the "Paris of the Middle East."

[Zioneer]

Not new, but dumb.  It's stupid to be in bed with the people that murdered your father and your friends.

To be fair, isn't that how Lebanon's government is designed to work, what with the specifications on "If the President is a Christian, the deputies must be X and X" and all that? Wasn't it designed to stop ethnic fighting by forcing ethnicities/religions to work together?

[dead0man]

Yeah, in theory.  Hasn't really worked in reality though.  The various death cults make sure of that.

[Zanas]

Besides, Hezbollah basically controls approximately one quarter of the country anyway, near Saida, Sour and Baalbek. So it's more of a realistic thing to do.

[Indy Texas]

Not new, but dumb.  It's stupid to be in bed with the people that murdered your father and your friends.

To be fair, isn't that how Lebanon's government is designed to work, what with the specifications on "If the President is a Christian, the deputies must be X and X" and all that? Wasn't it designed to stop ethnic fighting by forcing ethnicities/religions to work together?

The president has to be a Christian and the PM has to be a Muslim. Lebanon is an example of why trying to artificially create a homogenous ethno-religious nation state is futile because you're eventually confronted with long-term population growth trends (I'm looking at you, Israel). Lebanon was created to serve as the de facto state of Maronite Catholics in the Levant, and was about 2/3 to 3/4 Christian when it became independent. The French didn't anticipate (i) the tendency for Christians to emigrate to other countries; (ii) the tendency for Muslims to reproduce at a higher rate than Christians; (iii) the establishment of Israel and the expulsion from there of many Muslims who wound up decamping to southern Lebanon.

It's unfortunate that it's such a tiny country because it really does just need to be split apart Yugoslavian-style. Create an independent Beirut that is basically a secular, internationalist city-state along the lines of Hong Kong or Singapore. Turn Southern Lebanon into a Shi'ite rump state that Israel and Iran can treat as their personal proxy battleground. Give the rest of the country and its Sunni population to Syria.

[Famous Mortimer]

Or you know, just have a political system that doesn't encourage ethnic separatism and instead try to make people vote based on ideology.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Or you know, just have a political system that doesn't encourage ethnic separatism and instead try to make people vote based on ideology.

Ideology such as, for example, religious views, you mean?

[Indy Texas]

Or you know, just have a political system that doesn't encourage ethnic separatism and instead try to make people vote based on ideology.

We live in a country where frequency of church attendance is one of the best indicators of partisan vote. Sure you want to go there?

[Velasco]

It's unfortunate that it's such a tiny country because it really does just need to be split apart Yugoslavian-style. Create an independent Beirut that is basically a secular, internationalist city-state along the lines of Hong Kong or Singapore. Turn Southern Lebanon into a Shi'ite rump state that Israel and Iran can treat as their personal proxy battleground. Give the rest of the country and its Sunni population to Syria.

Are you sure that you want to split a country where the confessional groups are so perversely distributed throughout the territory?

And how about the 'secular' and 'internationalist' Beirut? I guess you mean Western Beirut, right?

[patrick1]

Not new, but dumb.  It's stupid to be in bed with the people that murdered your father and your friends.

We, the US, are currently supporting the Salafists extremists in Syria along with our dear allies the Saudis.

[dead0man]

What support have we given directly to "Salafists extremists"?

[patrick1]

What support have we given directly to "Salafists extremists"?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/16/presidential-determination-syria

We knew that there were extremist elements (ISIS/Al Nusra) within the FSA coalitions and decided that it wasnt a large enough percentage- not fully realizing they would co-opt the whole shebang.
Look online and you see the bearded ones shoting off our gear. Now whether all of this came directly from us or through the Sauds and Gulf states...Presently we are ponying up more cash to have the so called good rebels to kill the bad rebels.  The US is playing a dangerous game here and one we dont seem to fully understand. At least this Lebanese bloke knows his enemy.

[dead0man]

In your opinion, are there any good guys fighting for their freedom in Syria?

[Zioneer]

In your opinion, are there any good guys fighting for their freedom in Syria?

The Kurds are alright.

[dead0man]

The Kurds are alright.

That's my fourth favorite song by The Who!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Not new, but dumb.  It's stupid to be in bed with the people that murdered your father and your friends.

To be fair, isn't that how Lebanon's government is designed to work, what with the specifications on "If the President is a Christian, the deputies must be X and X" and all that? Wasn't it designed to stop ethnic fighting by forcing ethnicities/religions to work together?

The president has to be a Christian and the PM has to be a Muslim.

A Sunni Muslim, to be more specific. Speaker of the Parliament must be a Shia, Deputy Speaker and Deputy PM must be Greek Orthodox, and Chief of the General Staff must be a  Druze.

It's called a a "confessional state", established by the 1943 National Pact.

[Velasco]

This thread is amusing. Hope that certain Lebanese I know won't read it.