Entries Tagged 'Lebanon' ↓
March 21st, 2007 — Alan Johnston, Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East war, lawless in gaza, media, media criticism, narratives in the making, news analysis
Palestinian journalists hold posters of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston during a protest calling for his release in front of the parliament building in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 20, 2007. Johnston was kidnapped last week in Gaza City and no group has yet claimed responsibility.
The photo above accompanies a depressing piece about the internal strife in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah, now that Arafat-era “strongman” Mohammed Dahlan has been put in the driver’s seat to oversee security. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Even more depressing, there is nothing new to report on the Alan Johnston story.
I was glad to see that ETP’s Glynnis MacNicol picked up on the story in a long post. Too bad she got her facts wrong about “Gilead” (much, much more frequently known as Gilad) Shalit. If you’re going to go “deep in the weeds,” *** you gotta know what you’re talking about.
It was not the kidnapping of Shalit that “ostensibly launched last summer’s Israeli attack on Lebanon.” [!]
The kidnapping of Shalit (and murder of two other soldiers), on top of continual Hamas-sponsored rockets lobbed into Israel, was what sparked an Israeli offensive into Gaza (which is to the south of Israel) in June 2006.
Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah, the terrorist organization dug in on its northern border, in Lebanon, started in mid-July 2006, three weeks later, after Hezbollah kidnapped two other Israeli soldiers (and killed three ) in a cross-border raid that violated Israel’s sovereignty. That was the casus belli of that conflict, which today was given its offical name: the Second Lebanon War. (I don’t much like the sound of that. Whenever they start counting wars, knowing it’s only one of a series—of indefinite length—it makes me nervous.)
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*** I read that expression on Matt Yglesias’s blog today—twice in once post—and googled it, because I’d never heard it before. What I dug up was really interesting—with more than enough meat for another post. But who knows when I’ll ever get to that, so here’s the short version.
Googling “deep in the weeds” led me to Language Log (which I haven’t visited in waaaaaay too long)
Do six uses of a phrase in two years [May 2004 to May 2006 --ed.] count as “quintessential”? Well, I’ve observed before that a word or phrase may only need to be repeated a couple of times in order to seem characteristic of a writer or speaker, if the use in context is striking enough. In this case, five of the six TPM uses of “deep in the weeds” are used to introduce a post, as part of a ritualized warning to the reader that the content will involve a level of detail that some may find excessive.
In comparison, the phrase “deep in the weeds” has never been used on Language Log, on Language Hat, on the Volokh Conspiracy, on Crooked Timber, etc., although these blogs are more often deep in (what some might consider) the intellectual weeds than not
TPM, where Josh Marshall has used it a lot, is where Yglesias (who used to write under the TPM Cafe banner) must have picked it up.
We’re all Professor Donald Foster wannabes now. (He unmasked Joe Klein as “Anonymous,” the author of Primary Colors, the highly unflattering insiderish 1996 roman a clef about the Clintons. Foster has also gotten some wrong.)
December 3rd, 2006 — Hezbollah, Lebanon, media complicity in jihad
While the media reports on the festive atmostphere in downtown Beirut—Chris Allbritton said yesterday on CNN that it was “like Woodstock without the sex and drugs” and the New York Times report on Saturday was almost giddy—proving once again that the American media are complete suckers for Nasrallah’s PRopaganda (TM) stunts (for which he has media strategists, as I noted here)—Lebanese bloggers and knowledgeable analysts are reporting the massive demonstrations in Beirut as a clear coup attempt by Hezbollah. Nasrallah and his merry band of thugs masquerading as social workers are trying to overthrow the democraticallly elected government of Lebanon.
In a clever ruse, Hezbollah banned its own signature yellow flags from the demonstration, in favor of the Lebanese flag. One commenter at From Beirut to the Beltway is impressed (not):
How impressive the rally looked, I can’t forget those unforgettable scenes of cedar white red and green flags waving cheerfully. What a show !!
I have some improvement ideas for the organizers for it to look even better on TV screens; for example … if you chose this typical Christian icon, the cedar ( Christmas .. ), why not highlight the topic and dress all of the participants in Santa Clause red and white costumes; What an impact it would have; how amazing it would look on TV screens… You can add even a fake snow flakes machine to make it even more breath taking.
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Posted by: Amir from Tel Aviv | Sunday, December 03, 2006 at 06:31 PM
But by far the best play-by-play color commentary was posted by “Fubar” at the same blog:
With the Nasrallah/Berri/Aoun (NBA) protest/demonstration/sedition in Day Three the score is still 0 - 0. That’s right, folks, even though NBA started on offense and has managed to maintain the ball so far, NBA has surprisingly still scored no points. After taking to the field in a brand new game uniform which looks strikingly like the home team’s uniform, NBA has proven that a new look alone is not enough. NBA’s failure to score is partially due to the fact that NBA has committed a number of unforced errors like effectively gridlocking the downtown business district, turning Beirut into a cesspool for thugs, and failure to stress the important psychological necessity of the new team colors to all team members. It seems that NBA’s last minute change in color scheme, while brilliant in theory, has not proven as overwhelmingly effective in execution as hoped.
Meanwhile, the opposing side, Siniora/Jumblatt/Hariri/Geagea (SJHG), seemingly forever playing defense, has shown the ability to check NBA’s offense by running a new and improved version of the Saudi defense play. In a new twist on an old play, SJHG has taken advantage of the new Saudi aggressiveness when dealing with Syrian/Iranian offensive plays. Clearly, the Saudi’s have given up all hope of luring former team member Syria back on to the team, finally seeing through Syria’s false claim of free agency and coming to grips with the fact that Syria has in fact signed a not so secret, non-negotiable, binding till death do we part deal with arch-rival Iran. As we all know, defense is much harder to play than offense, so we can only hope that SJHG can get control of the ball sometime soon so as to have the opportunity to score some points in this ultimate showdown. However, while waiting for a turnover, a good defense is SJHG’s only option.
The biggest disappointment so far in the game has been the refs. There has been a consistent failure to call fouls, including an egregious number of off-sides and too many players on the field by NBA. Word from the refs is that they are having trouble determining fouls due to the similarity of the uniforms of the two teams and talks are underway in an attempt to get NBA to return to their traditional colors for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile, the failure of NBA to score points while on offense, coupled with the fact that NBA has clearly seen that the refs are not calling obvious fouls, has only worked to embolden NBA in this no holds barred smackdown. So we can all assume the change in uniform talks will go nowhere as it is working to NBA’s advantage.
So, we end Day Three with NBA still on offense and SJHG still on defense, waiting to see what new play NBA will pull out of it’s Persian turban next and wondering whether the refs will ever get their heads out of the sand and start imposing some order in this game.
Posted by: fubar | Sunday, December 03, 2006 at 03:37 PM
Unfortunately, since he posted, one demonstrator has been killed. The situation remains extremely tense. Don’t expect to hear about it on the news.
Read the blogs.
December 1st, 2006 — Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East war
As I said the other day, Nasrallah has become a rock star. Today’s Hezbollah Spectacle in Beirut brought out some more unlikely-looking supporters.
A quarter of the population joined the demonstration. Many, even those in Western dress, carried pictures of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader (Nabil Mounzer/EPA)
Unfortunately, things have turned ugly. The latest reports say that “protesters” have got Siniora’s government surrounded, and have blocked off the roads.
A Lebanese pro-Syrian protester looks at soldiers as demonstrators encircle the government headquarters in Beirut December 1, 2006. Lebanon’s opposition plans to block off all roads leading to the government offices on Friday where Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and and most of his ministers are holed up, a senior opposition source said. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (LEBANON)
Will this be the first of the three civil wars King Abdullah said were brewing in the Middle East?
There’s just so much competition.
Mr. Abbas gave his grim assessment about the state of talks between his Fatah faction and Hamas, the militant faction that controls the Palestinian government, after a one-hour meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jericho, in the West Bank. And while this is the second time Mr. Abbas has declared the unity talks dead — he did so in October, and talks resumed this month — there was a sense of defeat at the press briefing, which Mr. Abbas conducted with Ms. Rice.
“We wanted a cabinet capable of easing the suffering of our people,” Mr. Abbas said. “This is very painful for us because we know how badly the people have been suffering over the last nine months.”
November 22nd, 2006 — Lebanon, war
A mourner grieves after throwing rice from a plate over the coffin of assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel as it is carried towards the family home in Bikfaya, Lebanon Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006.
photo: AP
This is just heartbreaking.
