Peter & Abdallah,

Interesting that you consider the piece i posted as spreading zionist propaganda.

Its even more interesting that Peter thinks that the corrupt and zionist house of saud would not be in cahoots with the israelis over Lebanon.

I suspect that is due to historical ignorance or selective amnesia.

The house of saud was a staunch suppoter of the phalange in the Lebanese civil war as it still is. It supported the now dead criminal saddam on behalf of imperialists and zionists in the 80’s against Iran.

Not only it has never lifted a finger in support of the Palestinians but every chance it got it stabbed them in the back.
The house of saud betrayed Naser every chance it got.

The list of their criminal conduct on behalf of the zionists and imperialists is too long but the above few should suffice.

The house of saud does not represent the Sunnis in the slightest way. If anything they are the corrupt face of what wahabism is all about.

There is no shred of decency in the ruling house of saud let alone any religious credentials that allows them to think they are the leaders of the world of Islam. Thats like calling satan a christian. It fools my average uninformed citizen in the USA but you guys should do a lot better than this.

Their only claim to leadership is because the Mecca, Medina are under their control. And they are the guardians of Kaaba and manage the Haj.

True Islamic leadership as I understand it, is based on knowledge, wisdom, piety, living a life of poverty so you understand the faith of the poor and the unfortunate, courage, and ......

I just dont seem to be able to detect any of these qualities in any members of the house of saud.

In short the house of saud is an imperialist / zionist base used to create discord in the arab world , prevent the unity of the muslims, help suppress revolutionary movements, act as a launching pad for imperialist wars of aggression, help buttress dependent governments o behalf of imperialists / zionists, and most importantly betray the Palestinians .........

I hope that clarifies things a bit.

@ mrmb
  You are falling into a trap of Israeli propaganda by citing the Israeli sources.
  Saudis, as corrupt as they are, would never be in cohoots with Israel on Lebanon,which is exactly what the jewish media want you to believe, in order to reject their responsability for another defeat at the hands of Hesbollah.
  The idea must have come directly from Washington which stupidly insists that a defeat of Hesbollah would mean a defeat for Iran and they sold it to the Soudies as a package deal with the pending delivery of those obsolete weapons.
  Where we differ in the analysis is that you think the command center is in Israel, whilst I am convinced it is in Washington (by this , I mean the Jews, or the NeoCons).
  Just remember, before any new act of agression of theirs, Israel’s leaders come always first to Washington. Do you really believe they need to get the approval from our cross-eyed idiot in the WH?

The following should clarify who is who in the ME regardless of their rhetoric.

Saudi-Israeli plot against Hezbollah
Thu, 15 May 2008 16:36:28

Former Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan asks Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert to move against Hezbollah.

Saudi’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan has formally requested Olmert to deploy the Zionist regime’s troops along its border with Lebanon to threaten Hezbollah if the latter did not stop attacking government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Filkka - Israel website revealed Wednesday.

Bandar bin Sultan arrived in the Occupied Territories in his private plane directly from Jeddah airport to Lod Airport in Tel Aviv.

Bin Sultan asked Olmert to do what is necessary to support PM Siniora, offering to bear all the financial costs of any Israeli war against Hezbollah.

Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert who is under investigation in a bribe case, said that he could not do so now, assuring his guest that he could not wage a war on behalf of Saudi Arabia, but he will discuss the issue with the Israeli officials in order to carry out military maneuvers in the south of Lebanon.

I have been reading his articles for a long time and contrary to other readers and friends of mine who actually thought and may still think that Fisk is anti-imperialist and anti-zionist I always believed otherwise.

With the defeat of communism / socialism the vacuum has been filled by the Islamic Revolution and the the forces that it supports and promotes.

It should be obvious to the most biased observer that the only true anti-imperialist / zionist force or movement resides in Iran with all its shortcomings and faults.

This fact is hard to swallow for the traditional left and its various shades, and they are facing immense contradictions in analysis and understanding of events on the ground.

To make matters worst, the majority of the left in the ME has fallen in line with imperialist / zionist plans for the exception of a few. The same holds true in Europe and other parts. Thats why the imperialists are furious about Chavez fully supporting Iran and the Latin American Left has followed his path.

To make matters even more complicated the historical track record of the nationalist / leftist inteligensia in the ME is one of defeatism and falling in line with the wishes of the colonialists and imerialists.

After the fall of the Ottoman empire the brits and french divided the area in spheres of influence and brought to power individuals / men / tribes that fit their long term strategy of divide and rule, suppress, plunder, social disintegration, economic dependence, complete lack of self esteem as individuals and as a society, and always looking to the west for direction and handout and approval. They always promoted racial discord, and religous discord. Look at how our imperial goons behave in Iraq. 

This scheme has worked pretty well up to now for the rich and powerful (brits, french, dutch, spaniards, americans, belgians, and a few others) and to the complete detriment of peoples and cultures in Africa, Latin and Central America, Asia and ME.

The complete destruction of way of life in Africa an the subsequent misery, poverty, illness and all sorts of social dislocations is a direct result of COLONIAL
RAPE of AFRICA by the europeans. Its very simple.

This is how the people of the third world see it and thats why no amount of lies and propaganda by the various administrations (democrat or republican) will not change the impressions set in by several hundred years of brutality by the white anglo / saxon men and women in the third world.

Back to the ME. The current dispute in Lebanon is only a microcosm of a much bigger struggle where the imperialists and zionists are fighting to retain control. Pure and simple.
The forces that are completely dependent on the imperialists and zionists are there for all to see. And the forces that are fighting for their people, land, dignity and honor are also there for all to see.

The vast majority of the people in the ME see it very clearly and they know that the likes of Harriri, Jumballat, Samir Geaga, Kings of SA /Jordan, the Mubaraks of the area and so on are in the pay of the MI6, CIA and Mossad and only serve their masters.

The only people that seem to have difficulty understanding these facts are those of us here in the west, specially the US, where we are fed the stories the white house, DOD, corporations, and zionists want us to hear and see. And they are doing a fine job at that. You can see the results for yourself.

Mr. Fisk fits in this patchwork and he does his job very well by convoluting the facts, muddying the realities and distorting the truth by posing as a caring and unbiased reporter / writer.

Again I would direct you to geez, the facts. The government is not unconstitutional. The opposition throws this label because, and history bears this out, it is only the Majority and its supporters who have been targeted for assignation. The fact that the Majority has lost MPS to assignation has been the reason for the oppostion to assert the “unconstituionality” of the government.

The shia and Hezbollah specifically are indeed represented in the government, seats they were awarded during an election, and might I add at that time there was no complaint about the fairness of the election. The complaint that they are asserting is that they deserve more representation in the government without benefit of an election.

Your prejudice shows in your interpretation of events on the ground. There were NO Geagea (LF) snipers on the day of the demonstration (from your original comment), Hezbollah has made no such claim, this is your fairytale. Additionally, Hezbollah controls West Beirut not all of Beirut. They were not able to assert control over the Chouf despite despicable bombardment of its people (which I see you chose to ignore).

I also note you chose to ignore the fact that the government, Hamadeh in particular, has been raising the issue of the phone lines for quite sometime.

The issue of the validity of the resistance is a complicated one. Any logical discussion would have to include the issue that the main reason given for their existence is the only reason they have to continue. It needs to exist to protect Lebanon from Israel yet if their was no Hezbollah most likely there would be no threat from Israel.  Other countries (Egypt, Syria) border Israel and have been able to defend themselves without a resistance. Why because they developed strong governments and strong armys. Hezbollah has hindered that development in Lebanon to keep itself relevant.

@Fadel,
If I were Arab I would have had the same feeling as you about the “puppet leaders who collectively were not able to stand against tiny Israel for over sixty years”, but you are refering to an old situation which is about to reach its expiring date.
Arabs are beginning to fight back and- in earnest.
This has nothing to do with their rulers who remain, of course, as corrupt as ever, but due to the fact that Arab peoples themselves are organizing their own armed forces which show every sign of being highly disciplined and trained for a modern asymmetrical warfare.
Of course, we call them “terrorists” (as we do anybody at whom Israel points its finger).
Yes , indeed, they are the Hamas and the Hesbollah, and make no mistake- they are revolutionary formations.
Whether anybody likes it or not, these two armed popular movements are here to stay and could very well become the embrion of a formidable Arab popular army. There are indication,that Israel, despite of its bravados, mostly against the women and children-is scared stiff of them.
Israelis victories are getting more and more ephimeral since these organisations rebounce from the ashes, much stronger and determined than before. No number of victories over them will prevent Israel from losing the final battle.
Jews have finally managed to awaken from its slumber, the legendary Arab fighting spirit.
They have only themselves and their blind arrogance to blame.

Like Fisk I am here in Lebanon right now. The only comment I agree with is the Army is doing nothing. What does it matter why the government took this decision, it is the freaking government, they have this right. It is not the right of anyone, including Hezb, to begin a war against other parties based on a government decision. The army has stood by and watched and aided Hezb. These are facts on the ground. The telecommunications lines have actually been in matter of dispute for quite some time, check the Daily Star or google I am sure you will find this matter has been raised before.

And before you babble about the “resistance” you may want to try and wrap your mind around the fact that yesterday saw Aley and the Chouf attacked and bombarded with heavy artillery, Hezb saw fit to evacuate their own people and then proceeded to bomb the daylights out of the Druze that were left.

And might I add that it also a fact that Iran is the major source of money for Hezb and indeed stopped Hezb from invading the Serail when they staged their tent city over a year and a half ago in downtown.

Seriously if you want to comment on the situation here, at least try to get information from more than one source. It is insulting to all the people in Lebanon who are under attack….

Robert Fisk asks who else are the trouble makers in Lebanon?  Israel, France and the U.S.A., that’s who.  He just happens to side with those nations & not with Syria or Iran.  Which is a kind of turnabout because he’s been opposed to empire-USA’s transgressions elsewhere in the Mideast.  Would Mr. Fisk have us believe that whereas in Iraq U.S. meddling has been nothing short of catastrophic, somehow in Lebanon it will be productive and beneficial to the Lebanese people?  If so, perhaps he’d be interested in purchasing a share of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nefertiti,
This is a typical American stirring trouble in the ME.
The enemy of Israel is first declared ‘terrorist’, then the stooge Government is armed and chided for not fighting it hard enough. Siniora is simply Lebanon’s Abu Abbas. The parallel is prety much perfect regardless what Fisk says.
I agree with you,Fisk is not to be trusted, not only on Lebanon but on the whole ME. It is becoming quite transparent he is grinding a propaganda axe
(guess whose?).
Sorry,Mr Fisk, but a country belongs to those who don’t mind dying to defend it, not to those who are trying to sell it to the agressor. This, quite regardless of some election results.
We all know that votes can be bought by those who have more money. A true patriotism can not.