Daily Archives: November 16, 2007

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American Official: US Would Severly Punish Those Involved With Forming A Second Government

What kind of deterrence does the US have in store to prevent a two-governments scenario?


Try me..

Sarkis Na’oum, a Lebanese veteran journalist is in Washington DC these days. He is busy meeting unnamed “high ranking administration officials involved with Lebanon”.

He is writing his observations in his daily Annahar column. Here’s an excerpt of what one official told him today on what America would do in response to a would-be second government:

????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ???? ????? ??????? . ?????? ????? ???????? ??????? ???????. ?? ?? ??????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ??????? . ?????? ??? ???????? ? ????? ??? ?????????? ?????? ????? ????? ? ?????? .

Translation: The administration would take serious and significant measures to make forming a second government a difficult and perhaps impossible task. The measures would be monetary, legal, administrative and financial. I.E no entry visas to all those involved, no business trips, no investment. The measures will affect Syrian citizens in addition to the Lebanese.

It seems to me that these measures are specifically designed to scare off the FPM who have supporters all over the USA. Will they flinch?

Related Beirut Spring posts:

• Last June, I wrote about the possible effects of an American presidential ban on the Aounists in the US • In September, I argued that Mr. Saad Hariri is becoming a shameless pro American • Afterwards in October, I made fun of how Assafir covered his Washington trip.

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Lebanese Future Broadcasting Corporation

The growing crisis between the Lebanese Forces and the LBC could be an opportunity for Future TV’s upcoming news channel.


Melting Pot?

By all measures, it was shocking.

If you can ever imagine Future TV denying Mr. Hariri an interview, or NBN denying Mr. Berri one, you’d understand how shocking it is for the Lebanese Forces to have Dr. Geagea’s interview with the flagship program Kalam el Nass canceled.

This is very unfortunate for LBC, especially when you know that most of the stars who work there (like May Chidiac and Fadi Abboud) are LF sympathizers. The battle for the soul of the LBC must continue, but this post is about another, wilder idea.

With every crisis comes an opportunity. March 14 has heralded a historic alliance between the LF and the Future Movement, an alliance that is proving with time to be much more than tactical. If you listen to Dr. Geagea and Mr. Hariri speak of each other, you’ll know that their alliance is for a higher cause, one of Lebanese sovereignty and independence.

So why not challenge them to walk the talk and merge their media into one “Lebanon-only” 24-hour behemoth?

Think of it, there couldn’t be a better time. Future International is about to launch, and I can’t see a more powerful symbol than seeing May Chidiac having her own political program in what can be renamed the Lebanese Future Broadcasting Corporation (LFBC)

Related Beirut Spring Posts:

• A few days ago, I wrote that I was skeptical of the new Future TV channel • In July of 2005, I spoke of the difficulty of rebranding Dr. Samir Geagea to Future TV’s core audience • In November of 2006, I followed up and covered Al-Arabiya’s documentary of Dr. Geagea, which I thought was a remarkable success.

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Yamli, An Immensely Useful Tool

I am about to tell you about a website I found which I think is very useful.


As a blogger who constantly researches online for stuff about Lebanon, a lot of which can be in Arabic, I found myself often frustrated.

The problem is, I don’t have an Arabic keyboard, and many times, material can only be found in Arabic. For example, I once wanted to post a picture of Assafir‘s Talal Salman, but I couldn’t find any, because he mostly appears in Arabic websites.

Gladly, I found Yamli, a search website with an amazing capability. In it, I use my Latin keyboard to type things like “mou2amara”, then the magic happens: It will be automatically converted, inside the search box, to “?????? “  after which I can quickly search using google’s search engine.

Gone are the days when I had to find those annoying Javascript-based Arabic Keyboards to type using my mouse. This is instantaneous gratification, great stuff. The next logical step would be an online word processor that uses the same technology.

(This post is not a commercial advertisement. Any paid-for endorsements would clearly state so)

Related Beirut Spring Posts:

• Exactly a year ago, when I was still on blogspot, I profiled Ikbis, an Arabic Youtube copycat • On May 14, I reviewed Annahar’s new website and decided it was too gimmicky • On July 8, I was revolted by Syria’s internet ban and wrote a post that teaches Syrians how to get around it.