Lebanon's outgoing PM is now Lebanon's incoming PM.

[LynnTheDem]

That was fast. :D

Lebanon deputies back PM's return

Lebanon's outgoing premier - forced to quit last week amid opposition rallies - is almost certain to be re-appointed after a majority of MPs backed him. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud is expected to confirm the appointment of Omar Karami as prime minister shortly.

Backing for Mr Karami came a day after a huge rally in Beirut in support of Syria, which keeps a tight grip on power in Lebanon, and Mr Lahoud.

Syrian troops have been stationed in Lebanon since 1976. They were instrumental in stabilising the country following the 15-year civil war.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4332117.stm

[The Magistrate]

1. Funny Thing, Life, Eh, Ma'am?

We shall see how long he lasts....

My guess is not much past April, or the retirement of the Syrian garrisson to the Bekka....

[LynnTheDem]

4. And not always funny ha ha.

I'm figuring one of two things will happen.

Either total chaos will break out, or total chaos will break out. I'm not betting on one over the other right now though.

[The Magistrate]

9. Sounds Like A Bet To Me, Ma'am

[Warren Stupidity]

12. There are two military forces in Lebanon

Syria and Hezbollah. They are on the same side.

[The Magistrate]

14. You Mis-Read The Census, Sir

Just about every faction is armed, though the arms may be buried in grease somewhere just now. Neither the Druse nor the Maronites are known as peaceable folk....

[Warren Stupidity]

17. I believe you are wrong

Syria disarmed all of the militias except hezbollah. But now that our neoclowns have gone and destabilized lebanon again I guess we will find out who is right.

[Wilms]

2. Meet the new boss...

[LynnTheDem]

3. Exactly the same as the old boss...and boy do we mean EXACTLY...

LOL!

[Melynn]

5. I'm not surprised

I never thought that Syria was going to let Lebanon go. So now what is Bush going to do?

BTW, I was watching a show about the Bible Code on the History Channel a couple of weeks ago and one expert stated that the Bible Code predicted a war in the Lebanese-Syria region in 2005. The show was made in 2004.

I don't know if I believe any of the Bible Code nonsense, well actually I don't believe in any of it but that prediction did startled me given the recent events in Lebanon.

[LynnTheDem]

6. The huge Lebanese pro-Syria demonstrations did it.

Yet again, Lebanon is asking Syria (or one of them, anyway) to stay.

Did ya see the LBN about Hezbollah?

Hezbollah Is Your Friend

After decades of screeching for their anhilation, this is going to spin the rightwingnuts on their pointy axis.

[Melynn]

8. I didn't see LBN about Hezbollah but I will look for it.

As I understand it, Hezbollah is the only faction in Lebanon that is armed. If Syria were to leave Lebanon then Hezbollah would be the ruling party. Which of course, Israel would never go for.

If you start to break down the possibilities for Lebanon it keeps coming back to Syria, the only alternative is for America/Israel to invade Lebanon and then Syria. I don't think Bush is going to do that but you never know.

[Melynn]

10. O.K. I went back found the article that you referenced

Looks like the Bush administration is going to play ball with Hezbollah. That makes sense because as I said in an earlier post, Hezbollah is the only Lebanese faction that is armed. On the other hand, Hezbollah is an ally of the Syrians so once again you come back to the Syrians. So the Syrians are going to be involved in Lebanon no matter what.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. you get the prize

Isn't hezbollah on our list of evil-doers in need of erradication? Flippity-floppity when the neoclown.

[Pithy Cherub]

7. *'s global influence is running on fumes and those are toxic!

Oh yeah, the * plan to bring democracy to Lebanon...:crazy:

[Vladimir]

11. It would be interesting to know how

the opposition voted... they weren't going to turn up as far as I remember. To date though, the real winner in this is clearly Hizb Allah. Oh the irony!

[Warren Stupidity]

15. I wonder if newspeak

will put the 500,000 lebanese on their front cover next week to go along with the 'people power bush triumph in lebanon' cover they ran this week?

[Vladimir]

16. You must have a fever silly... here, have some more koolaid n/t

[The Magistrate]

18. Democracy, Sir

Is the last thing U.S. policy ought to aim for in the region. A great many people there do not much like us, and a democratic government would have to act on that dislike, or be turned out of office in favor of one that would. There is a reason U.S. governments have always supported, and willingly co-existed, with despotisms i that region....

"Have you heard the one about the dog who caught the bus?"

[Vladimir]

19. And people also forget that

democracy and pluralism do not necessarily go hand in hand - if we take democracy as a governement representing the wishes of the majority, i.e. at its face value, we may recieve the mullahs of Iran as the answer (for example). Western government is based on the understanding that democracy needs to be balanced with anti-democratic protections besed on certain philosophical principles... and this is not the most exportable commodity in the world, even if one agrees with it.

[The Magistrate]

20. An Excellent Point, Gospodin

And one often over-looked in discusion of the matter. There is an old Tory slogan from the days of our Revolution that has always had a certain black-hearted charm for me: "Better one tyrant three thousand miles away, than three thousand tyrants a mile away."

[LynnTheDem]

21. It's that fatal flaw on the right; For-Against Syndrome

If the ME citizens hate their oppressive rightwing governments, then they must love us.

So we encourage them, by force if need be (or if they have stuff we want) to overthrow the governments they hate.

Problem is, while they hate their oppressive rightwing govt's they ALSO hate us. That never does occur to the rightwing.

So they overthrow their oppressive rightwing governments and they democratically elect governments who are not oppressive...and who will not support America because if they did they'd be out on their butts by the same people who voted them in after booting out the last government they had that supported America because THEY ALSO HATE US.

And when America has finished "spreading democracy" around, and sits back to admire the handiwork, and realizes that instead of nations of citizens who hate our guts but with leaders who oppress them while supporting America, we now have nations of citizens who hate our guts and leaders who don't oppress them...and who hate our guts.

Oops.