Daily Archives: September 20, 2010

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Why Do The Lebanese, Unlike Other Arabs, Drink Alcohol?

Egyptian journalist Ahmed Ramadan helpfully proposes:

When you arrive in Beirut, you can’t help noticing the billboards around advertising different brands of beer, wine, whiskey and other alcoholic beverages with different and subtle sexual references [..] Due to the civil wars and financial woes that have broken the heart of the capital, Lebanese society is looking for an escape in the form of fun times. Wine, beer and other alcoholic cocktails are readiy available around the city and in most cafes and shops.

So we’re screwed up, alcohol is “readily available” and it’s being advertised to us using “subtle sexual references”. But hey, he’s not judging.

Update: The author has responded in the comments section.

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A “return to tyranny”

Neil Macdonald:

Beirut, easily the most vigorous, emancipated, glittering capital city in the Arab world, has descended into a miasma of fear, apprehension and uncertainty. Foreign journalists in this once-relaxed city are now assigned “minders,” as they are in Damascus, or were in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. All is now forbidden. Interviews dry up at the last moment. No one wants to antagonize Syria or Hezbollah.

This sounds like a sensationalist exaggeration and sloppy agenda-driven journalism to me. Sure journalists are escorted when they approach Hezbollah’s “security squares”, but that is hardly new, it’s been like that for as long as we can remember. That is not the case with any other politician or party. He makes it sound as if the government is assigning minders to journalists as soon as they land in Beirut.

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How The Saudis Are Reading The Situation

Tariq Alhomayed, Editor-in-Chief of Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat is clearly annoyed:

Does Hezbollah think that Hariri was in a moment of weakness, or do they feel that rapprochement between ‘March 14th’ and Damascus would be a potential danger for them?

The course of events, until now, suggest that Hezbollah is targeting Lebanese Sunnis overall, by targeting their leader. They also seek to dishonor the memory of Hariri’s father by demanding the abolition of the International Tribunal. According to some information, Hezbollah is preparing for this through the recruitment of Sunni mercenaries, just as Iran has done with Al-Qaeda in many situations. They will take up arms on behalf of the party at the crucial moment, although not in a repeat of the May 7th coup. Today, Hezbollah threatens to take the whole of Lebanon as its hostage, unless they respond to its demands, and the relatives of Rafik Hariri drop the International Tribunal. Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah has threatened “civil strife on a level perhaps not witnessed in Lebanon before”.

The Saudis just love the “Sunnis are in danger” line. I much prefer the one about defending the state and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Anyway, it’s obvious that they’re not happy at all.

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Jumblat’s “Heaven On Earth”

M.P. Walid Jumblat calls Lebanon “Heaven On Earth” in a bit of sarcasm:

Demands for improving living conditions have been overwhelmingly fulfilled, as we no longer witness power rationing, water, and electricity cuts as dams have been constructed to quench the thirst of villages, Lebanese products have invaded foreign markets … and the public debt has been closed”

He forgot to add: “politicians became honest, principled people who are consistent with themselves and their pasts”

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“A transformational event for the region”

A Washington think tank released a scenario analysis of what a future Hezbollah-Israel war could look like(PDF):

In this new Washington Institute Policy Focus, Jeffrey White offers not a prediction of war, but rather an estimation of what renewed hostilities between Israel and Hizballah might look like. In a meticulously calculated forecast of the future battlefield — supplemented by original maps and graphics — White outlines the capabilities and operational objectives of the two sides, the potentially game-changing roles played by Syria and Iran, and the possible impact on the region’s postconflict military and political environments.

Jeffrey White makes it clear that both sides have an interest in NOT pursuing a war, but that should such a war occur, it will likely resemble his forecast.

The document makes for scary reading (We’re talking full blown regional war with high stakes). If you’re short on time, the executive summary is really all you need to read.