By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star, Saturday, August 18, 2007 says:

“Lebanon has been the main loser from last year’s war”

Why do people like him remind me of smooth looking white haired men dressed in imitation designer suits and waiting in the lobbies of the Beirut hotels waiting to take up cheaper looking women to rooms occupied by wealthy Gulf and Western visitors?

They wouldn’t know Winning and Dignity if it hit them in the face, but they are always ready to impart their analysis and wisdom to those who are willing to pay the price in hard cash.

The good thing is that they represent a very small fraction of nation does not need any elegant double-worded analysis and that knows that Israel and its agents have LOST and the Lebanon and the “other” side have WON; the side that Rami Khouri and his likes do not represent.

Ya Eyib Eshooum…

Forget Lebanon’s 2006 war one year on!

Iraq’s 2003 war …. 9 years before it started:

Nostradamus at his best.

You won’t believe how good he … was

Alex, They knew what will take place in Iraq if they invade , What we see in Iraq is and was intentional destruction of that Arab state.It is for the sake of Israel.I don’t know why it take the Arabs so loong to figure things out.

Saudi press slams Syria VP’s claimPublished: Sunday, 19 August, 2007, 01:42 AM Doha Time

RIYADH: Saudi newspapers yesterday criticised Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Shara for his claim that the kingdom’s regional role has become paralysed, which put further pressure on already strained relations.
“The least that can be said of al-Shara’s statement is that it lacks diplomacy and aims to sow sedition between two brotherly peoples,” said Al Bilad newspaper.
The daily denounced what it termed the “desperate attempts to downplay the role of the kingdom in the Arab and Muslim world and the false claim that its role is paralysed.”
Saudi Arabia had on Thursday launched a fierce attack on Shara, accusing him of making false statements which “contain numerous lies aimed at damaging the kingdom.”
It accused the former foreign minister of seeking to “stoke disorder in the region”.
Shara said on Tuesday that it was “regrettable” that Saudi Arabia had not attended a meeting in Damascus last week on the security situation in Iraq, which was attended by US and French delegations.
“To the benefit of whom (is it) that some Arab officials circulate lies about the kingdom?” asked Al Yawm daily in its editorial.
Al Watan daily meanwhile slammed Syria’s “betting on foreign parties who would not be of help in troubled time,” in a clear reference to Iran, claiming that the Syrian regime should instead work on mending relations with the kingdom.
“Shara and his government do not realise where they are taking their people. Otherwise, they would have been more keen on rebuilding, rather than destroying, bridges of relations with Saudi Arabia,” it said.
Relations between Riyadh and Damascus have been fraught since disagreements over last summer’s war between Israel and Lebanon’s Syrian-backed Shia militia Hezbollah.
They were further strained after the Hezbollah-led Lebanese opposition launched a campaign to oust the government of Western-backed Sunni Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is close to Saudi Arabia. – AFP

It amazes me to this day how many Arabs have interiorized the psychology of defeat. For the second time in its history Israel leaves the battlefield with its tail between its legs and this time with the entire population of the North in shelters. The vulnerability of the Haifa refinery and chemical storage facilities clearly exposed and the Israeli Navy out of the game and yet Mr. Khouri claims Lebanon is the loser. Israel hates Lebanon more than any other country because its model of coexistence between different communities with all its defects will always be better than the excluisivist Judeo Fascist ideology that current Zionism has become. Shame on Mr. Khouri and likes of him who believe that a life of night life is more important than a life of dignity.

One year after the destruction or damaging of about 130000 houses in Lebanon, most of them in the south and in Dahiyeh, the process of reconstruction doesn’t look to go very fast. But some progress are noticed in the infrastructure and if no new war happens, we can expect the villages and cities being slowly rebuilt. The money is there. In the case of Dahiyeh, it will be a test of the ability of Hizbollah to manage such a complex task.
In contrast, the devastation of the Nahr el Bared camp raises many questions regarding its reconstruction. First of all, while the process of destruction through the Israelis last year was widely and immediatly documented through Lebanese NGOs and the world press (remember the Ikonos image on Dahiyeh on 29th july 2006), no such mobilization is happening regarding Nahr el Bared. The army blackout and the quasi absence of civic mobilization prevent any precise information about the level of destruction. According to the rare pictures published by the press agencies, the camp is almost totally destroyed and almost everything will have to be demolished at the end of the battle.
What will then happen for the estimated 30.000 people who left the camp? They are for now packed in the Beddaoui camp and one can assume that they will relocate in Tripoli and towards other camps all over Lebanon. The UNRWA probably won’t have the money for the rebuilding or even minimally compensating the Palestinians. The Lebanese governement is already paying nothing for the 2006 victims, all but (hopefully) channelling international aid.
The consequences of the up-rooting of the people of Nahr el Bared need to be reflected. We can fear their situation will only worsen. And the radicalisation of the Palestinians will then go on.