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For a good summary of views on Ahmedinejad’s Lebanon visit read Paul Woodward at “War in Context.” When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tours Lebanon\u2019s border with Israel today, he may pause a moment to consider that Iran owes its existence as a Shiite nation to the ancestors of those living in these rural hilltop villages.<\/p>\n Iran wasn\u2019t always the center of Shiite scholarship<\/p>\n In the early 16th century, the center for Shiite scholarship was in an area known as Jabal Amil, a rugged hill country that conforms closely to the geographical perimeters of modern-day south Lebanon. When Shah Ismael I, the Safavid ruler of Iran, introduced Shiism as the state religion in the 16th century, he turned to the scholars of Jabal Amil to help promulgate the new faith….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Nussaibah Younis<\/a> writes:<\/p>\n Nasrallah was the real star of the show. …. Nasrallah spoke mindfully of his larger audience in Lebanon, and tried the novel approach of presenting Iran\u2019s foreign policy as \u201cunifying\u201d. He praised Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for issuing a fatwa forbidding Muslims to react to the Qur\u2019an burning-fiasco in the US with \u201csimilar acts\u201d, claiming that Iran was acting in the best interests of Christian-Muslim unity. He also congratulated the Iranian cleric for his handling of a highly controversial London conference in which a little-known Shia activist disparaged Aisha, the wife of the prophet Muhammad, who is highly revered by Sunnis but considered a traitor by many Shias. Iran\u2019s supreme leader Khamenei had responded with a statement forbidding insulting talk about the wives of the prophet, thereby \u2013 according to Nasrallah \u2013 acting as a force for unity between Sunnis and Shias.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ahmadinejad draws large crowds, wary officials in Lebanon<\/a> ……. Officials of the two nations signed humdrum trade agreements, praised one other and ate lunch at the palace of President Michel Suleiman. Ahmadinejad presented Suleiman with a gift: a computer equipped for nanotechnology research.<\/p>\n “I came at the official invitation of the government,” Ahmadinejad said at joint news conference. “Our message is one of unity and cooperation.”<\/p>\n During an evening appearance before thousands in southern Beirut, he said: “Lebanon is a green garden with many flowers from many faiths and religions.”<\/p>\n But from the beginning, the choreography of Ahmadinejad’s trip overshadowed his carefully chosen words. Emphasis was on Iran’s relationship with Hezbollah, which operates as a state-within-a-state and sometimes eclipses the power of the Lebanese government.<\/p>\n Arriving with an entourage that filled two Boeing 707s, the Iranian president declined to take an official helicopter ride from the airport to the presidential palace in the Beirut suburb of Baabda.<\/p>\n Instead Ahmadinejad opted for a slow-moving convoy of black SUVs that waded through huge roaring crowds waving Iranian flags in the mostly Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut. Hezbollah security forces guarded the way.<\/p>\n Standing through the car’s roof, Ahmadinejad waved at the crowds who showered him with flowers and sweets. Hezbollah took the liberty of canceling grammar school classes in southern Beirut so children could attend.<\/p>\n After the stuffy luncheon with the suits, Ahmadinejad broke free from his official entourage and basked in the adulation of massive crowds in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.<\/p>\n Referring to Israel, with which Hezbollah fought a war in 2006, he declared: “The illegitimate Zionist regime is a permanent threat to the region and all the world governments.”…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A senior Israeli official<\/a>: “Lebanon has joined the axis of extreme nations which object to the peace process and support terror,” (Haaretz)<\/p>\n According to Hezbollah’s broadcasting network al-Manar<\/a>, before departing the country, Ahmadinejad met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah at the Iranian embassy in Beirut and received a gift from him \u2013 the personal weapon of an IDF soldier seized during the Second Lebanon War.<\/p>\n Alex watched it on TV<\/strong> and sent these remarks:<\/p>\n He just made it very clear that Iran and Hezbollah want to erase Israel and establish Palestine “from the sea to the river”<\/p>\n And he wanted nothing less than an independent investigation of 9\/11<\/p>\n And he just said that any spark that comes from the Zionist entity will shorten the life of their entity that never stuck by its promises to anyone and that never respected international law .. and “let everyone know that the presence of the Zionist criminal entity on even one foot of Palestine is an encouragement of murder”<\/p>\n He said the solution … the only solution is to recognize the right of return … the return of all the Israeli occupiers to their original countries. Or else … the anger of our people will make them disappear …<\/p>\n And I demand of some of the countries in our region (Moderate Arabs I assume) to understand and to allow its people to support the Palestinian people as they wish to … Any party that tries to normalize with the Israeli entity will be isolated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n<\/a> He quotes Nicholas Blanford<\/a>:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/qifanabki.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/10\/arab-public-opinion-poll-2010.jpg?w=250&h=183\")
<\/a>Qifa Nabki<\/a> does his usual good job explaining popularity polls in the Arab World and in particular why both Ahmadinejad’s and Nasrallah’s stars dimmed after 2008 and why Turkey’s Erdoghan and Venezuela’s Chavez shone so brightly.<\/p>\n
\nLebanese leaders portray his visit as routine as thousands turn out to greet him in Beirut’s pro-Hezbollah Shiite areas. An open letter urges him not to interfere in internal matters through Hezbollah.
\nOctober 13, 2010|By Borzou Daragahi and Alexandra Sandels, Los Angeles Times<\/p>\n