Mikati forms Hizbullah led government in Lebanon.

 
"Formed after five months of political stalemate, the new Lebanese leadership was welcomed by President Bashar al-Assad of neighboring Syria, another Hezbollah sponsor now beset by international censure of its crackdowns of anti-regime protests.

"This government is committed to maintaining strong, brotherly ties which bind Lebanon to all Arab countries, without exception," Mikati said at the Baabda Presidential Palace.

"Let us go to work immediately according to the principles ... (of) defending Lebanon's sovereignty and its independence and liberating land that remains under the occupation of the Israeli enemy."

Mikati was appointed after Hezbollah and its allies toppled U.S.-aligned former premier Saad al-Hariri in January over a dispute involving the U.N.-backed probe into the 2005 assassination of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, Saad's father."  Reuters

------------------------------------

Another "triumph" for US policy.  We have insisted that Hizbullah is nothing but a terrorist organization and that it is not a legitimate political force.  We have insisted that in spite of Hizbullah's strong showing in internationally observed elections.  We pulled every lever that we could to deny Hizbullah the fruits of its last victories in parliamentary elections.  This is reminiscent of our attitude towards Hamas after its electoral triumphs.  Now Hizbullah is in the "driver's seat" in Lebanon.  Can anyone doubt that this is the time to mend fences with Hizbullah?  Can anyone doubt that our past policy has been the result of Israeli influence in the Bush and Obama Administrations?"  pl

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-lebanon-government-idUSTRE75C48K20110613

PS  The Germans recognized the Libyan rebels today.  they are the 13th country to do so.  pl

Comments

[walrus]

Col. Lang:

"Can anyone doubt that this is the time to mend fences with Hizbullah? Can anyone doubt that our past policy has been the result of Israeli influence in the Bush and Obama Administrations?".

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

[Patrick Lang]

walrus

Amen. The story in today's Post about Reines is an interesting object lesson on the art of political warfare. pl

[Dan Gackle]

walrus:

It's a great quote, but not from Einstein. Believe it or not, it's from a 1983 novel by mystery writer Rita Mae Brown (whose other claim to fame is that Martina Navratilova is her ex).

Quotes like this often get attached to more famous people because they're likelier to get repeated that way... sort of an evolutionary argument from authority. In the age of Google, it's a fun hobby to track these things down.

http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=insanity+intitle:sudden+intitle:death+inauthor:%22rita+mae+brown%22

[The beaver]

Col.

You forgot to mention his good buddy Andrew J Shapiro ( who used to work for Joe Lieberman)

[Fred]

Col.

Appropriately enough the first link I find on the article about Reines took me to the entertainment section.

[mo]

Unfortunately the effort Amb. Connely put into trying to thwart this means that all that will happen is more of the same. HA have even given up a "Shia" seat to a Sunni to make this happen.

The next big battle will come when the STL issues its indictment. Will a M8 govt. allow the US to go down the sanctions route? Of course Israel could preempt this by launching an attack in the meantime but I think with everything going on around it Israel would be foolish to do so at this point.

For Lebanon itself, Aoun has always promised that once in power he would investigate the corruption of the govts of both Hariri Snr and Jnr. That could by itself be explosive for the country.

[J]

Colonel,

As long as the parasitical Israel continues to 'control' our U.S. foreign policy, we'll continue to see screw-up after screw-up blow-back on our U.S.. How our nation got itself in such a fix, a good part of the blame can squarely be laid at the feet of Israeli-paid-for-agents-of-influence like Rev. John Hagee, with whom I am understood that Israel's government provides a stipend along with Israeli government paid-for luxury jets to Mr. Hagee.

[The Twisted Genius]

Perhaps it is political blasphemy to say so, but I have always admired and respected Hizbullah. I'm not saying they're a bunch of angels, but they are certainly one of the least corrupted entities in the area, if not the world. We'd be much better off if we would deal with them as a legitimate and capable force in the region. But that would only be possible if we first shook off our Likudnik yoke.

[Fred]

TTG,

Once upon a time it was blasphemy to say the world is round - sometimes the definition changes. Hopefully we won't take 100 years to figure this one out.

[optimax]

This is from the website buzzflash:"Since Google launched its Google Earth feature in 2005, the company has become a worldwide leader in providing high-resolution satellite imagery.....There is one entire country, however, that Google Earth won't show you: Israel. That's because, in 1997, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, one section of which is titled, "Prohibition on collection and release of detailed satellite imagery relating to Israel." The amendment, known as the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, calls for a federal agency, the NOAA's Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, to regulate the dissemination of zoomed-in images of Israel......And it's not just Israel. The regulation also applies to the occupied territories. It's why Human Rights Watch can't provide detailed imagery of the Gaza Strip in its reports. Of course, this regulation cuts both ways; one also cannot see the destruction in Sderot resulting from rockets sent out of Gaza."

Israel has more control over Congress than the average citizen.

[LeaNder]

Obviously Pat's comment about political warfare made me take a closer look. Loyalties?

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/jason+horowitz/

That was the most interesting passage.

".... In the middle of the session, she excused herself for an appointment on the Hill and then, to the horror of her campaign, voted for a measure to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization — a disastrous move for a candidate looking to shed a hawkish reputation in a Democratic primary....“We didn’t know she was leaving prep to vote,” Reines wrote at the time. “And were surprised when she did.”

Former campaign officials still blame Reines for failing to flag the vote. Reines places the blame elsewhere. “In fairness to her,” Reines said of Clinton, “she did what she always does; she looked to other people to see how they were voting. So she looked at Chuck. Chuck voted for it. She looked at Harry Reid. Harry Reid voted for it. She looked at Carl Levin. Carl Levin voted for it. It was the first time that a vote had become so charged” in the run-up to the 2008 election. "

[Patrick Lang]

LeaNder

Iwould not place much credence in anything specific that Reines says. pl

[clifford kiracofe]

It seems to me the power of International Zionism and its project Israel is rising in the US, not declining.

IZ can count on at least three quarters of the House and Senate for pro-Israel votes.

A large chunk of the Republican Party's political base are Christian Zionists. Look at Bachmann or Palin or any number of them in Congress or running for Congress.

Look at the endless parade of Congressional and Presidential candidates to Israel for approval.

And so on.

US political culture is clearly dominated by IZ. Thus the policy toward Hizbullah and all the rest.

[Patrick Lang]

clifford

I agree. "They" are winning. Those who would prefer to live in an independent country are mere whisperers allowed to whine on the edges of things by the masters. pl

[David Habakkuk]

Clifford Kiracofe,

Having never lived in the U.S., I am not in a position to judge.

However, I do remember a time when the British trade union movement was a dominant power in the land.

In the late Sixties, they easily thwarted the timid efforts of the Labour government of Harold Wilson to impose some curbs on union activities. When the Tory government of Edward Heath renewed the attempt in the early Seventies, they destroyed it.

In the mid-Seventies, the Transport & General Union Workers Union leader Jack Jones was widely spoken of as the second most powerful man in the country.

When people push their luck, things sometimes change quite rapidly.

[arbogast]

The only threat to the Nomenklatura is financial instability.

So far, I give them a ton of credit, so to speak.

44,000,000 on foodstamps and everybody is interested in Sarah Palin's e-mails.

[Neil Richardson]

Dear Mr. Habakkuk:

"When people push their luck, things sometimes change quite rapidly."

Well supposedly only Nixon could go to China. Here in the US the power of the Taiwan lobby had been disproportionate to the sponsor's strategic importance to the US until the late 1960s. I am not sure what to make of the current strength of AIPAC, et al. I've always suspected that "power" is at its strongest when one doesn't have to openly use it. It appears to me at least that AIPAC and others have been "disciplining" quite often. In the past these dialogues wouldn't have taken place because so many of us who weren't Jewish didn't want to hear the usual accusations of anti-Semitism.

FWIW, I think things could be changing with a new generation. Maybe it would take a Jewish American Democratic president to finally realign our policy to the realities of the Middle East. (Probably not though as I'm sure some bottomfeeders would call him or her a Kapo.) However there have been discussions recently that would never have taken place had it not been for the work of Col. Lang, Mearsheimer, Walt, M.J. Rosenberg and many others who bore the price. I don't think we'd have seen Peter Beinart's piece in the NYRB ten years ago. Maybe the analogy of the Israelites spending 40 years to cross the Sinai could apply.

[Fred]

optimax

What's to prevent someone outside the US from hosting the website with such photos? Maybe someone needs to put a bug in Hugo Chavez's ear (or some other dictator).

[optimax]

Fred,

The satellite photos are NASA (I think), airiel and ground photos need govt. permission. You could try flying over Israel in a Piper Cub with a Nikon. I'm sure the US would fight hard to get your body returned to our soil.

[Roy G]

Hizbullah certainly has widespread popular support in Lebanon, largely for the reasons that TTG noted above. Nasrallah's public backing the Assad regime in Syria has tarnished their populist image a bit. Time will tell on that one.

Otoh, Mark Feltman is covered in sh*t right now and rightfully so – he's been the pivot man in this clusterf. Wasn't it just last fall that he was cackling about how he was going to bring Hizb down?

[Charles I]

Roy G, haven't you heard?

After the Israeli strike on Iran, US follow-on attacks, as well as operations to deal with re-opening the Strait of Hormuz, Israel will be "forced" to "defend" itself from Hizbullah, Hamas and various others to be announced. . .

[lally]

The Israeli next war scenario, at least one they are actively preparing for vis a vis the upcoming civil defense exercise "Turning Point 5" involves Syria, HA and Hamas:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144710

[Fred]

Optimax,

I assume there are satelites not owned by the US or US based companies that can photograph Israel. Then there are always the infamous hackers, wiki-leakers, etc.

[optimax]

Fred,

You're right. China has photos os Israel, I'm sure, but they're too secretive to let the world know their capabilities. Economic leverage probably keeps private companies from public release of such images. What bugs me is US passing laws restricting a private company (google) from releasing what should be public information at the behest of a foriegn nation.Putting Israels interest before our own is destroy our country. This is just a small example.

[Roy G]

Charles I: add Egypt, Turkey and the upcoming Gaza flotillas to the list.

If the Ziocons are really that stupid, they are setting themselves up for a quagmire on every front, and international isolation that will make apartheid-era South Africa look like Switzerland.