a charm offensive, Hezbollah-style

(update: added a missing link)

What do you do when you’re humiliated by international support (to the tune of $7 billion) for your political opposition?

Well, if you’re Hezbollah’s would-be rock star Hassan Nasrallah, you soften your tone, admit to mistakes, cop to your own international support, clarify your opponents’ failures and your own heroism. Oh yes, and you project your 40-foot-high image on the wall of a government building so that no Lebanese need miss your TV interview.

Hizbullah supporters gathered near the government house watch on a giant screen Nasrallah speaking during an interview on Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television, in Beirut, Lebanon.
Photo: AP

Not exactly Cinema Paradiso, eh?