Why Lebanon And Iraq Are At The Brink Of Further Strife
Today the Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri resigned after -at times- violent protests. In Iraq the gadfly cleric Moqtada Sadr joined protesters after previous protests in Iraq also led to violence. In both countries at least some protesters demand the resignation of their governments. While the demonstrations in both countries are about local economic and political issues there are foreign actors involved who want to use them to achieve their own goals.
Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai - 12:37 UTC · Oct 29, 2019#Lebanon and #Iraq protestors hitting the "Axis of the Resistance" stability in these two countries and pushing Prime Ministers in both countries to resign and lead the country towards instability.
#US and #SaudiArabia has lost #Syria but are still fighting in other theatres.
On October 6 we warned of these 'regime change' attempts : The U.S. Led Coup Attempt In Iraq May Further Weaken That Country
During the last five days there have been protest all over the south of Iraq where the majority of the people are Shia. The protest escalated within a few days into shootings with over a hundred killed. In several cities party and government offices were burned and various groups hustle to take a position in the "leaderless" movement.There are legitimate reasons for protests. The majority of the people in Iraq are younger than 20. The people have little chance of finding a job. The state is weak and many of its actors are corrupt. Services the state is supposed to provide don't get delivered. Electricity and water supply is often sparse.
But those are not the reasons why the protests immediately escalated into violence.
...
The protests are part of the conflict between the U.S., its Saudi proxies, and Iran.The immediate aim is to bring down the government under Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi who strove to stay neutral in the conflict between the U.S./Israel/Saudi Arabia and Iran.
...
New U.S. sanctions against Lebanese banks who allegedly support Hizbullah are likewise part of U.S./Israeli/Saudi effort to squeeze Iran and its proxies ...
An imminent breakdown of the very weak economy of Lebanon, partially caused by U.S. sanctions against Lebanese banks and the end of traditional Saudi subsidies to Lebanon, also led to protests and today to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. He will now lead a caretaker government which will have too little power to change anything.
Both, Iraq and Lebanon, have ethnic-sectarian systems that are finely balanced. The warlords or clan leaders of the various groups use the state for their own enrichment. Providing services for the whole country mean nothing to them. All they want is more money that allows them to run a system of patronage and clientilism for their immediate followers which keep them in their positions.
In Iraq and Lebanon the positions in the parliament and government are decided (more or less) by group quotas that are difficult to change. Both countries would be better off under universal constitutions that would do away with any quotas and specific positions for special groups.
But the Christian groups in Lebanon would lose out as the Christian share of the population has decreased over time. In Iraq the currently strong Kurdish and Sunni positions would lose power to the Shia majority. These groups would rather fight than give up on their privileges.
The current political systems make any change extremely difficult. The demonstrators are asking for the corrupt politicians to leave. But even if the governments resign and call for new elections an adherence to the election laws and constitutions would only recreate a similar situation.
To call for resignations is thereby not the way to achieve change.
The best strategy for the legitimate protesters is to press the current governments for reform. The governments in Iraq and in Lebanon have both already agreed to make certain changes. The protesters should accept those and pull back. If the politicians do not stick to those commitments the protesters can always go back into the streets and demand more.
Unfortunately there are external actors with lots of money who want to prevent that. They want to throw both countries into utter chaos or even civil wars because they hope that it will weaken those factions that have good relations with Iran.
In Lebanon there was some violence by followers of the Shia Amal movement against a protesters tent camp. 'Western' media falsely attributed the violence to Hizbullah. In Iraq the guards of a government building in Karbala shot at protesters who tried to breach its gate. Some 'western' media falsely alleged that those shooters were Iranians.
But external actors have made such bids before only to fail to achieve the wanted results. The outcome of any violent strife now will - in the end - likely be a different one than they dream of. In both countries it is likely that, after a bloody and chaotic period, the groups that will come out on the top will be the very once that the Saudis, the U.S., and Israel want to push down.
There would also be a lot of collateral damage and both countries would be further weakened. That is why the Iran aligned groups are currently trying to avoid to react to the obvious provocations against them. But with blood flowing in the streets it will be difficult to adhere to that position for much longer.
Posted by b on October 29, 2019 at 17:59 UTC | Permalink
Hizbullah has to do everything in their power to calm the protesters down before the Zionists get a good grip of the protesters and start their false flag operations by shooting people on both sides. Hizbullah's defeat will have consequence around the region. Zionists will once again make it rain over the countries
Posted by: Shoes | Oct 29 2019 18:43 utc | 2
@ b who wrote
"
The best strategy for the legitimate protesters is to press the current governments for reform. The governments in Iraq and in Lebanon both already agreed to make certain changes. The protesters should accept those and pull back. If the politicians do not stick to those commitments the protesters can always go back into the streets and demand more.
Unfortunately there are external actors with lots of money who want to prevent that. They want to throw both countries into utter chaos or even civil wars because they hope that it will weaken those factions that have good relations with Iran.
"
This strategy of weakening and keeping chaos alive in countries is a proven strategy of empire. If they can't put their puppets in power then they sow ongoing chaos and internal friction.
Damn, I wish the demise of global private finance directed empire!!!!
When is the world going to wake up to the ongoing manipulation and put a stop to it?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 29 2019 19:03 utc | 3
thanks b...
in the bigger picture, who benefits? hopefully the protesters can add 2+2 here... but maybe they can't... you lay it all out clearly.. i think this is more of the same from the same actors... hard to know how it will unfold here forward..
Posted by: james | Oct 29 2019 19:24 utc | 4
Mobs of bandits are already trying to create total chaos and mainly put siege to Beirut so as to cause citizenry to despair.
Some calls by Lebanon Health Minister on bandits blocking roads and asking for money to lte the doctors pass while impeding thousands cnacer patients to get to hospital to get their treatments on time....
Lebanese Health Minister: Vehicles carrying medical supplies are being subjected to attacks by some protestersLebanese Health Minister: Doctors say bandits are blocking some roads and asking for money in return to let them pass and reach hospitals.
Lebanese Health Minister: 2000 cancer patients can't reach the ministry center in Karantina to take their medicines due to roads cut off.
Scuffles between citizens and bandits as they were trying to open Jis Al-Ring bridge in Beirut.
Lebanese Health Minister: Some medicines are still held at the customs because no cash is available due to banks closure. >/blockquote>
https://twitter.com/AlmanarEnglish/status/1189135557454110722
As you can test, this is urban terrorism, aimed at provoking Hezbollah out in the streets to restore order and get the bandits from blocking the roads.This is the same play as in Hong Kong, made life impossible for citizenry and beat them to provoke authorities into restoring order.
Also, Elijah Magnier is already publishing the appearance of the ubiquitous "fist" of all the US "color revolutions"...
https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1189168166888509440
Also, if you look at the photographs, the people is mainly upper class..That is obvious by their "kitsch" style with a lot dressed luxury "Trade Mark" all over the place on their bodies...
If more were even needed, that the demonstrators will not leave the streets was advanced by Director of LCB yesterday or so, before Hariri resignation, signaling to a coordinated effort by this moron and Hariri most probably following orders from the Us Embassy...
Following orders from the US Embassy...how not, oh yeah, here we have "the manager" already...
Robert Gallagher, the #USAacademic Who Was Spotted Lecturing Lebanese Protesters about ‘Their Solutions’.https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1189185192969170944
I was telling that this was a "color revolution" since the beggining aimed at giving a coup d´etat a la Yerevan so as to get legitimate representatives of Hezbollah and allied Christians out of power.
The timing was most suspicious...
Genuine revolts do not start with such crowds showing all of a sudden in the streets...a group of awaken political conscious people use to start demonstrating and it is only with time that some others go joining, while passing and out of curioisity knowing about the goal of the protest, or by knowing of it by mouth to mouth from acquaintances....Once the protest is big enough it could be possible that the media would pay attention...
In all these lately protests there is too much organization ( in the Lebanese case, concerts, disc jockeys and even belly dancers apperared, and lately "umbrellas", food and other "supplies"....Elijah Magnier kept posting the videos during last days....) Then there is the social media factor, now playing at every of these orchestrated protests, with millions of messages sent at unison by different social media to an ammount of population the organizers have access to through the people who works with big data...
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2019 19:29 utc | 5
Leaders of leaderless protest.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/10/25/syria-gave-psyops-civil-affairs-sets-and-reps-in-messaging-and-setting-up-local-governance-three-star-says/
"Psychological operations forces have been under pressure from the Pentagon to step up their influencing missions, the results of which could be seen in Syria, the commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command said last week
The command oversees PSYOPS and civil affairs soldiers, which helped to disperse messages and establish governance in areas liberated from the Islamic State group over the past few years."
"Requests for products are often built by the Military Information Support Task Force-Central at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The small team there can sketch, print and record products, often using U.S. Air Force assets to airdrop leaflets, as well as use electronic warfare aircraft to relay airborne radio and television broadcasts."
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Oct 29 2019 19:32 utc | 6
The 14 March Movement resigned in block in the first days of protests...at the time, with not enough presure in the streets yet to provoke such v move, I saw clearly this was aimed at making it for the government impossible to continue governing or even to leave Hezbollah alone to answer the claims of the protestors...
The resignation of Hariri comes to ad to the impressión that a mass resignation of dertain sectors was part of the strategy,. These resignations come from presure coming from the US...as it is coming presure on the Lebanese Army to continue chaos in the streets...
Some new information by el editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar, Wafic Kanso, on the strange claims certain sector of protestors have and suspicous moves...like that fact that the protesters do not target the Hariris nor the homes of corrupts...but instead Hezbollah´s weapons... and what has all the traces of a intent of coup d´etat by Samir Geagea to be elected and awarded some ministries in exchange for opening the roads and go out of the streets...He points at the Christian presidency of Aoun, ally of Hezbollah, and Hezbollah itself, as targets of these chaos ( as I guessed from the beginning..)
https://twitter.com/almayadeen_es/status/1189235195674812422
During an interview granted to the Al-Mayadeen channel on the Al Machahadiya (Scene) program with Lana Medawar, Kanso said that with these maneuvers Washington intends to "disturb the presidency of the Republic and Hizbullah."He said that when the people took to the streets "it did it spontaneously in the first few days," but then absurd demands began to appear.
The analyst and editor-in-chief of the newspaper accused the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, of being the head of the pyramid of corruption.
And he wondered why "the protesters do not besiege the houses of the corrupt, for example, and why we begin to gradually hear absurd demands, such as the overthrow of the mandate" of President Michel Aoun.
He added that those who kidnapped the movement of popular protests are not interested or want to have a serious leadership capable of negotiating with the government.
He also considered that he is astonished that the "political phenomenon of the Hariris, who have ruled the country almost three decades ago taking it to the size of the current debt, are not direct targets of the protesters' criticism."
He said that "the leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, is negotiating with the Presidency of the Republic to withdraw its militants from the street in exchange for obtaining more than half of the ministerial portfolios in an eventual new government."
Kanso stressed that the Resistance does not use its weapons in the interior of the country and is anxious to restore normal life to the areas ”where most of its supporters and supporters live.
"There are questions about the background of the position of the Minister of Education in terms of continuing the decision to close schools," he added.
Kanso said that some civil society groups have become bandits, adding that "people on the street in the current form will not accept anything, even if the government resigns and this creates many doubts and suspicions."
On the other hand, he pointed out that "the demands of some protesters on the Resistance weapons confirm the questions and suspicions we are talking about."
In this context, he assured that there are many clean figures in this protest movement that must move towards naming a public address to their movement and expel the suspects and those who receive instructions from embassies from foreign countries.
Kanso concluded that the fact of using "slogans against the Resistance, and cutting the roads and the quality of the demands, remind us of what happened in Syria."
Kanso is also saying that there are clean people amongst the demsotrators who should choose a representative to neogtiate with te government to take of this something good as outcome and avoid chaos which reminds of the previous times of civil war...
The fact that there are privileged people, luxuriously dressed, dancing in the streets scantily clad, who do not target neither Hariri nor the president of Lebanese Central Bank, who are the more corrupt people in Lebanon, debunks that these sector of protesters are out neither for scarcity nor for corruption, but to overthorw a legitimate democraticaly elected government to put in its place a finger-chosen puppet under manage of the US...Claims on naming a interim president" a la Guiadó have already appeared...
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2019 20:18 utc | 8
- The "unrest" in Lebanon and Iraq could be the beginning of the "Arab Spring" 2.0. In and after the Arab Spring of 2011 nothing was solved. The Arab Spring of 2011 also could give us a good clue what the outcome of that "Arab spring 2.0" could be.
- I still think Muqtada Al Sadr is the best Iraq can hope for.
Posted by: Wily2 | Oct 29 2019 20:24 utc | 9
Lots of genuine strife wherever Neoliberalism is alive, including within the Outlaw US Empire.
What b suggests is precisely what Nasrallah told the citizens of Lebanon, particularly those protesting (I posted a synopsis of his speech several days ago). That the protests erupted at a critical juncture for the Outlaw US Empire tells us where the button was pushed; yet as b notes, the grievances are genuine. As I posted earlier today on the open thread, I'm delighted that Hariri will be out as PM as he has never put Lebanon first and instead acts as the Saudi agent he is and traitor to Lebanon. As for Iraq, its internal politics will remain fractious as long as there's any US presence there--even an embassy or consulate. Give the entire region peace and the opportunity to develop without any Western influence whatsoever and they'll be fine in two generations--40 years. That may seem a long time, but to deal with the past and cleanse their societies of that poison, it will take at least that long.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2019 20:30 utc | 10
Weakening both states is clearly what would happen in the next few years. Other than that, nothing much would be achieved.
Hezbullah won't be weakened much and would still have its enormous stockpiles of missiles, drones and rockets.
In Iraq, Sadr gaining even more power would be a likely outcome, and even if he's not the best buddy of Iran, he's appearing more and more as a hardcore nationalist, which might not frighten the Sunnis as much as pro-Iran Shias, and would make Iraq stronger in the long run, while still being wary of the Saudis and of Israel - if not downright hostile to them. They would just trade the current regime for a stronger more powerful one a few years down the line, without any benefit since the future regime wouldn't be friendlier.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Oct 29 2019 20:40 utc | 11
Wily2 @9--
I once thought Sadr was Iraq's remedy too, but no longer see him as one thanks to his actions while the forming of the current Iraqi government was happening. IMO, what Iraq needs is a strong non-sectarian nationalist, patient yet firm and capable of conducting discourse with all factions.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2019 20:40 utc | 12
@Sasha #5: Very well said. Free performances, free food, smiling young girls wrapped in national flags, "random" acts of kindness and generosity, "citizen workshops" with foreign "professors" who "just want to help", and a massive surge of "inspiring" posts on Facebook ("We can do it! Let's do it! Let's save our country!") that suddenly fill everyone's news feeds are a dead giveaway that a color revolution is underway. A massive lovebombing campaign to disorient people, overcome their natural skepticism, and tie them emotionally to pre-selected "influencers".
Posted by: S | Oct 29 2019 20:46 utc | 13
Iraq has been attempting to straddle the fence between US and Iran. With Trump's fixation on Iran, I doubt that is possible. Bush doctrine of 'You are either with us or against us' still holds in that part of the world.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Oct 29 2019 20:52 utc | 14
Certainly Lebanon has gotten the geopolitical short end of the stick for some time - and getting saddled with a million plus Syrian refugees surely hasn't helped.
But what's going on in Iraq is more basic: the population is exploding upwards. It was 29 million in 2010, and is now 39 million. It is is projected to reach 164 million by the end of this century. For societies without an open frontier, this kind of population pressure pretty much guarantees poverty and social instability. It's not the number of people, of course, as the rate of increase: for a mostly arid place like Iraq, the capital costs of accommodating every new person is substantial, but the spare investment capital is very limited. A rapidly growing population puts a country on a treadmill: they have to create ever more physical new infrastructure every year, but if they start to fall behind, the investable surplus falls. More demand, less supply. The sums don't add up.
This is why the iron law of development is that: for societies without an open frontier, FIRST the fertility rate moderates, THEN - if everything else goes halfway right - it is possible to slowly and patiently accumulate per-capita wealth. basically never the other way around.
Posted by: TG | Oct 29 2019 21:24 utc | 15
I'm not sure I agree with b's suggestions of foreign intervention. What could the US or Israel gain by supporting the movements? In the case of Iraq, the US already has, more or less, a veto over the choice of Prime Minister. They approved Abd al-Mahdi. Who else is going to be better?
In the case of Lebanon, the US/Israeli interest is to destroy Hizbullah. How does getting Sa'd al-Hariri to resign help that?
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 21:35 utc | 16
b is brainwashed and can even accept simple facts that hings may happen without the hand of the Mossad, CIA & M6. Western media did not said the shooter were Iranian but Iranian supported milice. Somebody with weapon must be doing it, then who ? Humm.... not those patient peace loving barbed .... Absurd. They do it just because Ayatollah do it, have always done it since they never accepted any freedom of speach.
When it come to lebanon, the country is under the hand of a bankrupt milice. The US sanctions hit hard the wallets of Iran, no more money for the cronnies and MBS cut the fund to lebanon since Hairy do not lick his shoes. So Lebanon is now on its own, isn"t that great ? but guess what.... there is services, no industry to provide a sustainable life. Yeah, Hezbollah has 130 000 missiles, how digest is it a missile in stock ?
Posted by: murgen24 | Oct 29 2019 21:48 utc | 17
TG @ 15:
"... [Iraq's population] was 29 million in 2010, and is now 39 million. It is is projected to reach 164 million by the end of this century ..."
This projection is assuming that Iraq's borders remain the same in 2100 as they are now and that the government there does not enact family planning policies in a way similar to Iran's family planning policies that have reduced that country's fertility rates and slowed down its population growth.
There are many other assumptions on which these projections (sourced from United Nations sources) may be based that may not apply in real life, even now: do they assume that future Iraqis will not be emigrating overseas or that the current fertility rates in Iraq (which have been trending downwards, by the way) do not change?
Posted by: Jen | Oct 29 2019 21:49 utc | 18
@Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 21:35 utc | 16
In the case of Iraq.... Who else is going to be better?
That the US gets a government who do not insist so much in US troops leaving or not coming in in higher numbers, with a more beligerent stance towards Iran and who cuts ties with Russia and China?
In the case of Lebanon.... How does getting Sa'd al-Hariri to resign help that?
Well, getting out a weak spoiled play boy who spends way too much to get in his place an unelected far-right thug mafioso which widely collaborated with Israel against resistance in the last war..( as my post above informs...)
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2019 21:49 utc | 19
Sasha @ 5, S @ 13:
In the case of Lebanon, I would include MSF and foreign missionary groups (especially ones from the United States, Britain and France) working with Syrian refugees as potential collaborators in instigating a Color Revolution.
Christian groups and leaders (including one Joshua Wong) are very much involved in the so-called "pro-democracy" protests in Hong Kong.
Posted by: Jen | Oct 29 2019 22:04 utc | 20
@ 16 laguerre.. i am surprised you say that and agree with sasha in her read on what is happening here... the chaos can't be a good thing for lebannon, but i can see it being a good thing from some other countries that shall remain un named...
Posted by: james | Oct 29 2019 22:19 utc | 22
That the US gets a government who do not insist so much in US troops leaving or not coming in in higher numbers,
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2019 21:49 utc | 19
Abd al-Mahdi is already compliant. Nobody else will do more.
Lebanon is more difficult. There must be an Israeli think that if you destabilise Hariri, the destabilisation will in the end affect Hizbullah, for them the main fear.
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 22:21 utc | 23
@Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 21:35 utc | 16
Protests in Iraq and Lebanon are twins, even when started at different point in time.
Both started with legitimate claims on economic situation and state of affairs in the country, to then turn violent and into attacking mainly Shia militias who are part of the Axis of Resistance and played a major role in fighting ISIS, to erase their well deserved and increasing influence in government, the army, and the country in general.
‘The US and Israel, behind violent acts in protests in Iraq’
The protests in Iraq were restarted after the lapse of Arbaeen celebrations by setting government and political parties buildings and facilities on fire as well as assaulting HQ of Shia militias who responded defending themselves.
If you can not see here you an intent of coup d´etat like the one in place by Samir Geagea and minions in Lebanon...you could be needing a visit to the oculist along with some here...
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2019 22:36 utc | 24
i am surprised you say that and agree with sasha in her read on what is happening here.
I don't at all agree with Sasha (by the way, normally a Russian male diminutive of Alexandr, I believe).
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 22:36 utc | 25
Iraq and Lebanon certainly have a relationship, but I'm not sure it's one of factors in disturbances. Iraq, it's Shi'a youth protesting against a Shi'a government, theoretically of their own side. So popular, and economic. It's much less clear in the case of Lebanon who the demonstrations are directed against. Economic, yes, probably that's all.
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 23:00 utc | 26
laguerre - do you rule out colour revolution dynamics here in the case of lebannon?
Posted by: james | Oct 29 2019 23:12 utc | 27
pompeos press release below... isn't hariri on ksa's leash? i am sure it wouldn't cost much to get him to resign.. remember when he was called to ksa for a meeting and the clown prince wasn't sure if he would be allowed to go back? how long ago was that?
"In light of Prime Minister Hariri’s resignation, the United States calls on Lebanon’s political leaders to urgently facilitate the formation of a new government that can build a stable, prosperous, and secure Lebanon that is responsive to the needs of its citizens.
The peaceful demonstrations and expressions of national unity over the last 13 days have sent a clear message. The Lebanese people want an efficient and effective government, economic reform, and an end to endemic corruption. Any violence or provocative actions must stop, and we call upon Lebanon’s army and security services to continue to ensure the rights and safety of the protesters."
https://www.state.gov/political-situation-in-lebanon/
Posted by: james | Oct 29 2019 23:32 utc | 28
Long Angry Arab Twitter thread dealing with the Anglo/Zionist Media and its "reporting" on events in Lebanon. An excerpt from the middle:
"Some Western correspondents are so clueless that they answered me by saying: Hizbullah and Amal are the same, forgetting bloody clashes between them years ago. And the relationship between them this week is at its worst."
For those unaware, The Angry Arab is Lebanese and has outstanding connects with his homeland as one might imagine.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2019 23:37 utc | 29
Please excuse me while I vent.
The ouster of Israeli (theoretically) Nationalist Netanyahu is proceeding apace. He will be prosecuted and jailed because a scapegoat is the only thing that will satiate the collaborator soul of every Zionist on earth. They are the one's demanding it and so they will get it for sure.
Meanwhile his Zionist opponents and/or co-conspirators - it matters not which, and the new Israeli Globalist Zionist government, are preparing the ground for an invasion of Lebanon.
They will come to destroy. When they withdraw Hezbollah will claim victory, and so all will be well in the souls of Zionist collaborators. Hurrah for Hezbollah! Hurrah for Putin!
But too bad for the Lebanese.
There is no other obvious explanation for the initiation of protests in Lebanon: scantily clad and whatnot. It is a Syria style takedown, or an Arab Spring 2.0, as another commenter has correctly described. Which is really just an Arab uprising 3.0 if anyone is counting as far back as WW1 and Sir Lawrence of the Peerage.
Today's Syria is a shadow of it's former self, no matter the too-late Russian intervention, which came at the cost of Syria giving up all of it's oil, btw, so it matters not that they are temporarily 'winning'. They have already lost more than can ever be counted. 500 000 dead and 7 million refugees ffs!
Whilst armchair warriors sing the praises Resistance and Victory, lol.
Turning Lebanon into a Syria is what will come next. The West needs new blood and Lebanon will provide a whole raft of refugee-pharmacists, to assist with the administration of Soma to all those insufficiently entranced in the West. Saudis will pick over the remainder because, let's face it, they are too lazy to do anything for themselves and have plenty of cash.
Trump will not withdraw from Syria because he too works for the Zionist Globo Mafia. Have we all realized it yet? As his promises wither and die mere seconds after tweet. Perhaps he is unaware of his role but it matters not because an idiot savant is still just an idiot.
I'm also afraid the Zionist campaign to remake the M.E. and redraw it's borders will not be so easily put back on the shelf. Coastal Syria and Lebanon share the same culture. A new country will be fashioned, along the coast, but it will not be permitted to hold the interior and control Syria's hydrocarbon wealth, which is considerable and would make Grand Liban or Greater Syria a serious threat to Israel and more specifically to Jerusalem, capital-to-be of the Zionist New World Order.
As I said, this will not be permitted, by Zionist Russia least of all, so don't hold your breath waiting for a saviour.
I started this journey roughly 10 years ago, at blogs like MoA. Today I realize in ten more years it will still be the same. Zionists think in centuries and millennia, not in months, days or seconds, as you are taught to do for yourself and which modern media makes impossible to change. By design. The medium is indeed the message and makes truth quite easy to ignore.
The plan to remake the middle east will never be put off unless and until the Zionists themselves are arrested and prosecuted for their 500 years crime spree and genocide. Put your energy here, in prosecuting the criminals, if you want something to change.
Put your energy here if you still need a scapegoat for your own brand of Zionism.
If, on the other hand, your love of the Zionist teet makes you think that 'reforms' are the answer, you are no good to anyone but yourself - and Zionists of course.
Posted by: Zedd | Oct 30 2019 0:01 utc | 30
[Both, Iraq and Lebanon, have ethnic-sectarian systems that are finely balanced. The warlords or clan leaders of the various groups] use the state for their own enrichment. Services for the whole country means nothing to them. All they want is more money that allows them to run a system of patronage and clientilism for their immediate followers which keep them in their positions.Inside my square brackets one could easily introduce: The US administration, the members of the US Congress and of the US Permanent State ...
I wonder when a (multicolored) revolution is to come to the USA... Don't count on such actors like USAID or NEP (National Endowment for Demcracy) though.
Posted by: Red Corvair | Oct 30 2019 0:20 utc | 31
In the long-term Israel needs to annex the southern portion of Lebanon. If some sort of civil war could be instigated between Hezbollah and the USA supplied and supported (and infiltrated) Lebanese army, Israel might be able to realize that portion of it's Yinon Plan in the next decade.
As short-sighted as the AngloZionist empire often appears to be, they do think long-term as an above poster mentions. They appear to double-down on their mistakes, but seen in the bigger picture this doubling-down is a continuation of their relentless drive towards world dominance.
Hezbollah leadership is wise, hopefully they can turn this into a win for Lebanon, however, until people world-wide wizen up to the centuries-old Anglo divide and conquer tactics, I am skeptical that the outcome will be one of justice.
Posted by: Haassaan | Oct 30 2019 1:09 utc | 32
From bottom of vary long TØM CΛT Twitter thread:
"[Photo] Iraq Army with the protesters in Karbala amid the celebrations earlier tonight." The next frame in the thread has a photo with the following caption, "Some more photos from Karbala tonight. Do people really think that they'd be celebrating tonight if a 'massacre' just took place yesterday?"
TØM CΛT is located in Iraq and is one of the best Twitter sources there. The thread covers the protests from 25 Oct and puts the lie to most Western Media reports. Much the same holds true for Lebanon as there are numerous local Twitter sources providing unbiased reports that show BigLie media is what it is.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 30 2019 1:13 utc | 33
Haassan @32--
I'm sure you know that those tactics are several thousand years old and not Anglo in origin. Indeed, the technique was made into a policy ploy by a Florentine, Niccolò Machiavelli, in The Prince, a pamphlet that was once required reading for PolySci students.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 30 2019 1:23 utc | 34
- For decades the population of the Middle East has grown and grown without bounds. And now the Middle East (& North Africa) is paying the price for that un-restricted population growth. (think: Arab Spring of 2011).
- Since nothing has been solved I fear that the Middle East & North Africa will see an Arab Spring 2.0. And that includes a country called Israel as well. The unrest in Lebanon and Iraq could be the start of that Arab Spring 2.0.
- Corruption is rife in the Middle East and North Africa. So, that will be the source of more "unrest" in the Middle East.
- In that regard I also think that the role the US can play in the Middle East and North Africa is (very) limited and will shrink with every day. just think of it this way: What is the US going to do when the entire Middle East is engulfed in "unrest" ? Bomb every country back to the Middle Ages ?
Posted by: Willy2 | Oct 30 2019 1:59 utc | 35
Just a quick shout out to anybody who might care, Max Blumenthal, the journalist at the Grey Zone news website has just been arrested by a Washington D.C. police swat team and thrown in jail. Blumenthal was doing excellent journalism of the U.S. instigated Venezuela coup, ongoing. The charge? 'Simple assault' of a pro-coup Venezuelan demonstrator outside the Venezuela U.S. embassy 5 months ago, while delivering food to occupiers of the embassy.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/30/blum-o30.html
What the U.S. intelligence agencies did to Assange, they are now doing to Blumenthal. This is a very serious situation: you can no longer practice authentic, independent journalism critical of U.S. regime change criminality without running the risk of them coming after you and locking you away on bogus bullshit charges. USA: what a sick, fucked up evil regime :-(((
Posted by: deschutes | Oct 30 2019 7:58 utc | 36
ISW has taken up sending me their cr*p again, although I unsubscribed. The new one in my email (it's a podcast; I wouldn't want to waste x minutes of my life to listen to it) :
The Ouster of Iraq's Prime Minister Looks ImminentI take that to mean "we would like him ousted". I have no idea why; the US won't get anyone better for them. Iraqi politics just doesn't work that way. The US already has as much as it can get. I see Muqtada al-Sadr is zooming back to get in on the act. But he won't get into power. The US has essentially a veto over who is chosen as PM. As far as I remember the last time, there was already quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing before Abd al-Mahdi was settled on. There'll be the same problem again, I guess.
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 30 2019 9:21 utc | 37
To call for resignations is thereby not the way to achieve change. <= It was just a few months ago that Hariri spent a few weeks in detention in Saudi Arabia and much of his family is stil subject to abuse by MBS.(James @28 remembered also). any chance Hariris' untimely, and inopportune resignation is an imposed part of the fake resistance scheme?
How does getting Sa'd al-Hariri to resign accelerate interest of US/Israeli?
1. by: Laguerre @ 16, <= I would answer hariri is well respected and generally fair, there is no room for fairness in a regime change and takeover opperation, further MBS does not trust Hariri? <=supported
2. by Karlof1 @ 10 "Hariri will be out as PM as he has never put Lebanon first and instead acts as the Saudi agent he is a traitor to Lebanon".
3. by murgen24 @17 "MBS cut the fund to lebanon since Hairy do not lick his shoes. So Lebanon is now on its own, .. there is services, no industry to provide a sustainable life. Yeah, Hezbollah has 130 000 missiles, how digest is it a missile in stock ?
4. by Sasha @ 19 outing inefficient playboy, Israeli collaborator Hariri is useful...
5. by James @ 28 clear message Hariri resignation, was a facilitation to form a new government..
Turning Lebanon into a Syria is what will come next. ..the .. campaign to remake the M.E. and redraw it's borders will not be so easily put back on the shelf. Coastal Syria and Lebanon share the same culture. A new country will be fashioned, along the coast, but it w\n\b permitted to hold the interior and control Syria's hydrocarbon wealth, which is considerable and would make Grand Liban or Greater Syria a serious threat to Israel and more specifically to Jerusalem, capital-to-be of the Zionist New World Order. As I said, this will not be permitted, by Zionist Russia least of all, so don't hold your breath waiting for a saviour. Zedd @ 30 <=said it best.. the opportunity for the ME nations to divert encroachments against their sovereign soils may be disappearing?
Karlof1 @ 34 says divide and conquer originated by the Floretine Niccolo Machiaveli, in the Prince, Sasha @ 5 says, too much organization.. @ 8 "the protesters d\n target the Hariris nor the homes of corrupts...but instead Hezbollah´s weapons... and what has all the traces of a intent of coup d´etat by Samir Geagea. Psychohistorian @ 3 explains that financial manipulation is a weapon which deflates quality of life to ground zero but d\n id enough about it to be useful.. please help us what do you mean? Peter AU 1 @6 explains that propaganda is a mind control weapon mCw, access control is accomplished by law and rules, and spying collects personal data sufficient to tract, contain, setup and manipulate, inhibit or promote the behaviors of every single individual within the controlled society, then there is the old stand by, as Deschutes @ 36 just posted, Arrest, torture and worse fates to those who fail to conform.. (<= collectively I call these techniques= soft weapons). While soft weapons are ordinarily used to contain, control and keep suppressed <=domestic governed humans, they are often also used by militarises engaged in foreign regime change activities. Soft weapons are used on both sides of the equation at once, to prepare the domestic population for the domestic spending and deployment of domestic resources to foreign places, in the coming regime change in the foreign target, and in the take over place; to induce population unrest of a nature that most legitimate sitting governments are near powerless to correct. When soft weapons (financial, MCW, and 24/7 spying) are used to target regime change the user selects his targets to impose "inhumane and out of control local conditions" of the type that develop and incite legitimate local risings. Historically, planted within legitimate local rising groups are agents of the outsiders who tolerate the local rising elements until opportune moments favor take control by the outside invaders. At that point the legitimate local rising elements can not believe their eyes, as the intensity, and the direction of the rising is no longer within their control, suddenly hidden elements in state and think tank institutions come to life in support of the rising. The legitimate elements often discover they have been used to help the instigators accomplish take over with consequences far different than the original dissidents intended..
Lenin and banker backed Bolsheviks used soft weapons to position the local propaganda so that they could accomplish their October Revolution in 1919. Soft weapons often employ advanced, latest technology and often use authority established by those embedded puppets who have relations with powerful domestic and international institutions to control and to suppress the governed. Soft weapons have been under development for centuries. Militarises and intelligence services since 1919 have been developing the targeting and effectiveness of these soft weapons.
Thanks karlof1 @ 33 for exposing as a possible false narrative that the Iraqi government killed its protesters. Establish the narrative fails, but what about the seven other propaganda debunkers=> 2) they wrong: we right, 3. cherry pick the facts, 4. ignore stuff, 5. blame the victim, 6. make up stuff, 7. attack challenge, 8. repeat the false narrative until hell freezes over I think I also saw a similar report on consortium news.
Posted by: snake | Oct 30 2019 10:45 utc | 38
James Jatras, Patrick Henningsen, and Joshua Landis together with Lavell did a really fine job on Crosstalk to-day - topic?
Well, Lebanon, and more...the consensus seems to be (in re Lebanon) that the economy will entirely collapse...with, naturally, a chaos.
Some very clear thinking @ CT to-day
Some say "global insurrection against banker occupation", Peter simply says "global uprising"...
Posted by: Walter | Oct 30 2019 11:32 utc | 39
Posted by: Laguerre | Oct 29 2019 21:35 utc | 16
Agree. Problem with thinking that there is an analysis on how the world works is that the world keeps changing.
What Lebanon and Iraq have in common is the c/demented Shiite-Sunni religious political powershare. I hear people in Israel are also getting restless about religious control.
People want religion out of politics.
Of course, the more the world changes, the more it remains the same.
I am sure some geopolitical planners do realize that secularism is a threat to the Iranian and Turkish leadership. It is no threat to Russia nor China. I somehow do doubt there is any serious foreign push behind this.
In other news Assad is in control of talks with the opposition on a new Syrian constitution. He has a chance to create a truly modern state and he will take it.
I don't feel concerned about things changing. The Iranian revolution started as an US project to counter Soviet influence in Afghanistan. It backfired. It is time to give Iranians a break.
Denmark has agreed to Nord Stream 2 and troops have been withdrawn in Eastern Ukraine. Britain has a lot of time to rethink BREXIT.
It is over.
Posted by: somebody | Oct 30 2019 13:57 utc | 40
There are protests going on in many countries; there's even a wiki page referencing country-specific wiki pages to help us keep track of them here.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 30 2019 14:19 utc | 41
In the case of Lebanon, the idea that this is a just another color revolution is wrong. The US, Israel and the usual suspects will try their damndest to usurp the momentum to push their agendas, and the country should be on high alert for that inevitability, but that doesn't mean it is a color revolution were it stands.
Lebanon is a complex case, and I would fully agree with what Laguerre has said. The speed and spontaneity with which the protests began is due to the majority of the population detesting the political class. With the exception of Hizbullah, all of the politicans are warlords from the civil war, but with the difference that now they plunder instead of kill. Even though most people hate the 'patronage system', most still had the tribalist tendencies to trust 'their' corrupt politicians more than an unknown, non- sectarian figure. However, this had been slowly changing, and with these protests, has reached a tipping point.
The corruption in the country is one of the most egregious that I have ever encountered. There isn't 24/7 electricity even in Beirut, tap water is undrinkable, garbage collection a mess, hardly any police, fire fighting equipment nonfunctioning, half of the state budget goes to debt servicing to mainly Lebanese banks owned by the corrupt political class. It goes on and on. The government only exists to enrich itself and people are sick of it.
To the point of protesters being 'scantily clad' wearing 'luxury brands' listening to djs, this is a product of being in Lebanon. The images from Beirut indeed show 'scantily' dressed women because they are either Christian or non- conservative Muslim or non- religious and that's how many of those demographics dress, just like in 'the West'. I've been in Nahr la-Based, the poorest Palestinian refugee camp in the country, and even 10 year old kids were running around in Armani or DG t-shirts. Not because they were purchased in luxury stores but because they were knock offs that cost no more than any other cheaply made Chinese clothing, but people knew that's what was 'in style' and wanted to wear them as well. I've also been to Dahyeh, Hizbullah's stronghold and seen women in headscarves adorned with Louis Vuitton and Burberry logos. Again, all knockoffs, but that's simply what young people wear in Lebanon. And as for the party atmosphere, well again, welcome to Lebanon. Getting a DJ to set up shop is pretty easy in a country where the only functional part of their economy is the nightlife and entertainment industry. If you like, look up the protests in Tripoli or Nabetiyeh. Less scantily dressed people, but still a 'party atmosphere'.
The March 14 and March 8 camps want to portray the protests as being the other group coming for them and their respective media will amplify that message. And undoubtedly this is true for some people; hard-core Lebanese Forces will be chanting against the Resistance, the Aoun-ists will be chanting against Future Movement. But on the whole, for one of the first times in the country, this is a protest against the entire confessional system and its inept leadership.
This is where I think the Resistance is dropping the ball. Hizbullah in particular could gain the most as it is the least corrupt and sectarian (in outlook) of all the political parties. If they were to join the call for snap elections, one could see them increasing their share in government. It would be the traditional parties and figureheads, Geagea included, that will lose out the most.
The way forward for the Lebanese is not to lobby these warlords to change the system that benefits and enriches primarily them as they have had ample time to change things and have only milked the population. Electing non- sectarian MPs with a mandate and desire to move to a universalist system is the only way out of the situation. And, in my opinion, this would strengthen the resistance as most of the population wants a united country free of outside influence.
Posted by: Don Wiscacho | Oct 30 2019 15:16 utc | 42
Typo in my post at 15:16 should be Nahr al-Bared
Posted by: Don Wiscacho | Oct 30 2019 16:16 utc | 45
Pepe Escobar's latest focuses mostly on Argentina's renunciation of Neoliberalism but he does note events in Lebanon and Iraq along with other global revolt centers. What he has to say about Lebanon IMO rings the bell:
"Each of the outbursts – Catalonia, Lebanon, Iraq, the Gilets Jaunes/Yellow Vests for nearly a year now – are due to very specific reasons. Lebanese and Iraqis are not specifically targeting neoliberalism, but they do target a crucial subplot: political corruption.
"Protests are back in Iraq including Shi’ite-majority areas. Iraq’s 2005 constitution is similar to Lebanon’s, passed in 1943: power is distributed according to religion, not politics. This is a French colonizer thing – to keep Lebanon always dependent, and replicated by the Exceptionalists in Iraq. Indirectly, the protests are also against this dependency."
IMO, both Lebanon and Iraq need to form constitutional committees and produce their own fundamental law as that seems to be the only possible solution that gets to the root of the problem. Unfortunately, such a process will take time and the people are demanding more immediate remedies. IMO, both nations need nationalist-oriented non-sectarian leaders to step up and propose an all-inclusive social-democracy along with a plan to rectify the genuine grievances of the populous as well as a long term development vision. And the same can be said for Syria, too.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 30 2019 16:50 utc | 46
Thanks Don and Karlof for your informative posts. I have family in Lebanon and have followed events there for many years, and the situation is as you describe it. People are truly fed up, and this is a legitimate uprising, however, the usual bad actors are in there mucking things up as well. One ray of light is that Lebanon has been messed with for so many years that they have some antibodies built up, and as well, the Civil War is still in memory and they don't want to go back to that.
I'm glad the Angry Arab called out Amal. Getting rid of Berri is one of the primary objectives,and as a veteran infighter, he knows how valuable false flag attacks under the Hizbullah banner can be - a trait shared by the US and Israel. One can only hope that Nasrallah can outsmart them and also do what's right for Lebanon, not just his party.
Posted by: Roy G | Oct 30 2019 17:03 utc | 47
Although I've seen some effort to relate Lebanon's case to that of Iraq, I find myself wondering about how the situation in Lebanon today compares with that of Syria in 2011. Some degree of confessionalism in the governing structure, but significantly secular, multicultural civil society. Real economic hardship, legitimate grievances.
The Borg still has the Syria playbook, though Lebanon has seen that movie playing out next door. The outcome will likely differ, but AZ Borg will likely see a similar opportunity. And the media can likely be counted on to do their part.
As disheartening as this would be locally, I must admit to being at least as troubled that even as the globalist neoliberal corruption machine fails, Oligarchy now, without its mask of legitimacy, may be playing for the Libya model writ large--a planetary Hunger Games as things fall apart.
Posted by: Paul Damascene | Oct 30 2019 17:28 utc | 48
Paul Damascene @48--
As Roy G relates @47, Lebanon has already had its Syria with intervention by Occupied Palestine and the Outlaw US Empire followed by Syria. As I've stated before, getting the Hariris out of Lebanese politics is a good first step as they've always been 5th Column in the employ of Saudi and Zionist interests. IMO, Nasrallah ought to make an excellent national leader under normal political circumstances, but Lebanon is anything but normal; so, someone like Nasrallah--or rather several like him--needs to step forward. From my vantage point, the Lebanese people are acting more as one people than as separate factions as they have in the past, making a non-sectarian nationalist constitution possible.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 30 2019 18:13 utc | 49
I agree with Don 42
People should watch "Capharnaum" to know something about how deeply rotten Lebanon is. How many of you could bear living in a mini country where half the appartments are empty and owned by millionaires living in the Gulf, KSA, Paris, London and the US? (They even know how to make millionaires in Africa... for 2000 years).
In a country where electricity is off several hours per day? In a country where food is as expensive as in Europe?
It started when they saw 1) a pro-Palestinian elected in Tunisia and 2) that the Syrians had managed somehow to kick out the US (or at least this is what many though in the first few days of Trump's 'withdrawal'). Who knows, maybe he needs to stay around the oil fields to satisfy the Frenchies and other who still have many traces to erase and a few guys to exfiltrate.
People are sick of fake religious millionaires be they Druze, Christian or pseudo-Sunni who paid 16 million dollars to a South African model while at the time he was declaring bankrupcy in some of his businesses
https://www.businessinsider.co.za/lebanon-protests-prime-minister-saad-hariri-south-african-model-candice-van-der-merwe-the-washington-post-2019-10
Also, people had believed Aoun was non-corrupt and that was the platform on which he was brought in, but he started to groom his son in law for a job.. Not to talk about Berri, the speaker of the parliament. The only thing they know are dynasties. Women have no right to divorce outside religious authorities. Ethiopian maids have no way to get documents for the kids they get with locals and the country is known for human traffick... etc.
Posted by: Mina | Oct 30 2019 18:47 utc | 50
For French speakers, a nice collection of grievances of Lebanese (and when even the Christians complain, the Europeans know they won't be able to count on them anymore; if fact they know that since the Lebanese Christians have refused to buy the propaganda about Hariri assassination and sided with Hizbollah against the pseudo court or the war on Syria)
https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/affaires-etrangeres/liban-un-systeme-conteste
Posted by: Mina | Oct 30 2019 18:57 utc | 51
@Posted by: Don Wiscacho | Oct 30 2019 15:16 utc | 42
The picture you paint of Lebanon differs quite a bit from what I could witness four years ago when I visited the country.
For what I could witness, people in Lebanon is quite conservative in attire, as happens in every Arab or muslim country I have visited ( which are almost all except Iraq and Afghanistán...)
It is true that in the Christian neighborhoods you can find a girl dressed in a shiny beaded tank top, but this is, in the best case, one person amongst the many modern bars and pubs surrounding the street, and even this isolated case was a thin girl who, in any case, was showing the belly, but not most of her breasts out, as I have witnessed doing some big breasted girls in the videos, something that would call the attention even in Europe...
Then, ambiance in these modern bars and pubs is quite classy and quiet, without any outburst at all, people talking to each other peacefully ( as it is the ancient custom in the Midle East for spare time...), but definitely they do not dance neither in the bars/pubs, nor in the streets...as you could find it happens in Spain, for example.
Rich people running through Le Corniche go in shorts, but in t-shirt, even dfor this sweatting activity and in the middle of summer canicle....
For what Tripoli and Tyre is respected, Tripoli is an even more conservative city than Beirut, far more, moreover Sunni ( I would say integrist...), and where there is more poverty than in Beirut, if you do not count the rich who live in their neighborhoods and definitely were not making show off of their money in the streets, nor definitely dancing almost nake there at the time I visited, with ISIS type folks with their eyes like out of their orbits coming in into the city for funerals in ancient mosquees...The Saint Gilles Citadel was at the time occupied by Lebanese Army...due possible nfiltration of ISIS thugs...The ambiance of a party it was not...Of course, people were trying to live their lives the best and normal way they could, but you could say el horno no estaba para bollos, that we say around here...tension was palpable...
Tyre is a Hezbollah stronghold, and thus, it is quite difficult to find there the girls in tank tops you can find in Beirut.
Anyway, anywhere in Lebanon I could remember finding young guys in bermuda ( as i could watch so many in the protests, but this seem to be the "uniform of current orchestrated protests, in Hong Kong, Barcelona, Iraq, ...and also in Lebanon...as previously was in Maidan...) men in Lebanon dress quite conservative, as happens in every Arab country ( although Mediterranean, this is not defintely Tel Aviv...) and girls or women who dress tank tops are a minority...even amongst Christians...
That in Lebanon they like a party more than anything else, that´s for sure ( as happens with all the Arabs...), but may be that it is left for their intimacy celebrations ( as happens in all Arab and muslim countries...), since that is in no way obvious in the streets, and definitely there is no money to spend in that. Disc jockeys, musicians, performers and belly dancers we have seen in the videos spreaded of these protests are not there for altruism, they have been payed by somebody...People in Lebanon have not definitely that money to hire them.. ( and we know, from the organized concert in Cucutá by the owner of Virgin, that these poeple do not move if not for money...You see that there are not concerts of Los Juanes, Alejandro Sanz, Carlos Vives or Miguel Bosé en Chile...it´s only anonymous people with theri instruments chanting their resistance poets and bards many assasinated in the past, not without being left wthout their tongues before...)
Even rich people when they go out, they do to have a drink or have dinner in modern pubs and good restaurants, but they do not organize public parties...if not because of classism implied....In Lebanon, even the beaches are private, and people having sunbaths there are not visible for the rest of passerbies....one more detail on their conservatism...
With respect to electricity cuts, I did not suffer any during my stay, nor suffered any water cut either, and garbage was being picked up timely ( I have suffered quite worst odors in Eurpean cities with not such hot weather...) Most touristic locations like Byblos are like city boutiques, with everything so cuttely placed with exquisite taste and no paper or waste on the pavement...But it is that, as I have been able to witness, Arabs, in general, are not dirty people, they do not use to throw waste in the streets, the poorest the could be, there is always something dignifying in these peoples...This is why sooner or later they will liberate themselves all, like the Houthies are doing, as that is their nature...
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 30 2019 21:23 utc | 52
@Posted by: jonku | Oct 31 2019 7:18 utc | 53
Your welcome, comrade. Let it be for the honorable people of Lebanon, who do not deserve what the US "porompomperos" and its minions are planning for them.
Taken from Elijah Magnier´s Twitter account, Karim Sharara´s recount on the events in Lebanon, which not only is an accurate one on how things developed there, but also more or less coincide with the points I have made, so far, from here, which anyone well intentioned ( on the part of genuine average Lebanese people...) paying attention to images, videos and moves by certain political parties, and who knows the country a bit, would have done as well...
Lebanon Protests: Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
He alludes at the obvious and patent reconversion of the "protests" into ones against the Resistance and Hezbollah by said former warlords on the side of Israel in past Lebanese Civil War who happen to be main responsible of corruption and antisocial economic measures applied to suffered and impoverished Lebanese people.
He points at the challenge that is possed in front of the Resistance and concretely Hezbollah.
Nasrallah is due to speak on Friday.....
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 31 2019 12:32 utc | 54
In Iraq "Services the state is supposed to provide don't get delivered. Electricity and water supply is often sparse."
I recall that, not too long ago, Iraq not only had reliable electricity and water supplies, but also a good national health service.
I wonder what happened?
Posted by: RoHa | Nov 3 2019 7:28 utc | 55
Not long ago?
They have had cuts since the US invasion. Check for the Basra protests since 2011 and you will see it was always one of the major grievances.
As for Baghdad, they started the Arab Spring first, back in Nov-Dec 2010, with Oman too, but those were not allowed to be on al Jazeera prime time.
Posted by: Mina | Nov 3 2019 8:17 utc | 56
Power shortages in Iraq
https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/middleeast/2018/07/electricity-iran-iraq-protests-180721140946629.html
"The protests in the south, which kicked off in Basra almost two weeks ago, were sparked when Iran stopped supplying electricity to that region after it said it was owed $1.5bn in unpaid bills.
The protesters didn't blame Iran but pointed to what they called an inept and corrupt Iraqi government. However, in recent days Al Jazeera has been told, off the record, that the US put pressure on Iraq not to pay the Iranians."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/us/politics/iraq-buying-energy-iran.html
"WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is pressuring Iraq to stop buying energy from its neighbor and sole foreign supplier, Iran, in what has become a major point of conflict between Washington and Baghdad.
Iraqi leaders, fearing that a further shortfall in power would lead to mass protests and political instability in their electricity-starved country, are pushing back on the demand, which is rooted in President Trump’s sanctions against Iran."
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 3 2019 8:47 utc | 57
The comments to this entry are closed.
Anger at corruption and lost opportunities is understandable.
As b notes, just booting out those at the trough today, doesn't make for a better future tomorrow.
The activity in Iraq and Lebanon also coincidentally (?) hurt those actors which have been prominent resisting Saudi/Israeli/American goals.
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 29 2019 18:38 utc | 1