For those who are interested in where the fighting is taking place in Tripoli:

Mastering the art of coping with stress, the Lebanese already have a set of jokes about the situation (Via +961)

For non Arabic readers, sorry, most of these would be lost in Translation.

To put Senator. Obama’s statement in perspective, let’s take a look at the Republican nominee’s point of vue. At the time of posting this, there was still no official press release on the situation.

Calling it a “very serious situation,” presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain said here Friday that the seizure of parts of west Beirut by Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah fighters demands immediate action.

McCain made it plain he was talking about diplomatic, not military initiatives.

The Arizona senator said the fighting that has humiliated and weakened the government of Lebanon threatens to further destabilize the Middle East and embolden Iran while raising the prospect of new attacks on Israel.

McCain said President Bush should seek heavier involvement by the United Nations which has a small peacekeeping force in south Lebanon to pressure Syria and work with other nations with interests in Lebanon.

Nothing can beat this story for it’s Im-ashamed-of-being-Lebanese effect.

We’d rather stay here than work in Beirut… (photo source)

Sure they’re starving and living in miserable conditions, but that doesn’t mean that they have to put up with the ultimate abusive environment: The Lebanese household.

On the occasion of Labor Day, Ethiopia has officially banned its citizens from traveling to Beirut in search of jobs, the African country’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has disclosed. Ethiopia passed the bill after it probed the human right violations and domestic violence Ethiopian migrants face behind closed doors in Beirut while employed as maids.

“Suspending work travel to Beirut was the only solution to minimizing the human rights abuses and dangers facing our citizens,” said Zenebu Tadesse, deputy minister of state for labor and social affairs.

During the past few years, a number of Ethiopians have died in Lebanon in questionable circumstances.

Jonathan Schanzer writes an article in the Weekly Standard about Hezbollah’s advertising savvy, but he doesn’t tell the entire story.

Advertising Vs Advertising

In his article “Selling Terror“, subtitled “Madison Avenue meets the Bekaa Valley”, Mr. Schanzer writes a compendium of the media companies that are helping Hezbollah “sell terror”. He then concludes that the US needs to keep a closer eye on these operations (and their financing):

…the U.S. Treasury Department should consider a new round of designations to include Media-Publi, Ressalat, as well as the four Media-Publi employees listed on the site. Similarly, other banking systems and companies around the world should be encouraged to cease doing business with them. Hezbollah’s Lebanese advertising operations must not be allowed to continue.

But what Mr. Schanzer doesn’t say is that in Lebanon, Hezbollah is actually at a disadvantage when it comes to media and advertising savvy. The Cedar revolutionaries are the ones with the real Madison Avenue advantage, so much so that many articles have been written about the advertising prowess of the pro-Americans, who are striving — to use Mr. Schanzer’s words — to “sell” freedom.

(Disclosure: The Weekly Standard article in question links to this blog)

Will this picture tell a thousand words?

This picture is being circulated in blogs with an anti-American leaning. It shows U.S. Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Michele J.Sison standing side-by-side with the ISF’s chief Ashraf Rifi.

Of course, the blogs find no need of mentioning anything else (except for some mutterings about protocol), waiting for the Lebanese to make their own conclusions, like for example, how subservient to the Americans Mr. Rifi (and by extension his March 14 backers) have become.

What they conveniently skip though, is the fact that Ms. Sison was attending the graduation ceremony of 166 ISF members, who just got trained by a US funded program, described by the American embassy’s website as follows:

The ten week state-of-the-art training program module is taught by U.S. instructors and curriculum developers with the assistance of Lebanese police and legal professionals. The police recruits are instructed in the latest policing and law enforcement skills and how to apply these to real life situations. Modern police practices, administration, democratic policing, human rights, criminal investigations and other essential law enforcement skills are all part of the program.

But then again, why get into the details when you get a chance to take a free shot at the Americans?