A Focus on Lebanon
During his interview with David Gregory on the Today show on Dec. 20th, JK said:
...while everybody is focused on Iraq, there is a major crisis brewing that will have an impact on Iraq, on Israel and on the politics of the region in Lebanon. And Lebanon is an immediate crisis. It’s a two-week crisis, not a several-month crisis. And we think it is critical that there be greater focus.
With that in mind, here is a round up of reporting and analysis on Lebanon. As with any written account, there are biases to be considered in how each author records their thoughts but taken as a whole, these articles provide insight into the complexity of the crisis.
The Washington Post, “Lebanon’s Slow Slide From Hope To Deadlock” by Anthony Shadid, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, December 24, 2006; A01
The Nation, “People’s Revolt in Lebanon” by Mohamed Bazzi, the Middle East bureau chief for Newsday since 2003, based in Beirut, posted December 20, 2006 (January 8, 2007 issue)
Reuters, “ANALYSIS-Lebanon conflict overlaps with Mideast turmoil” by Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent, 28 Dec 2006 11:40:12 GMT
Foreign Affairs, “The New Middle East” by Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Bush administration official, November/December 2006 issue
AP, “Lebanon sees more than 1,000 war deaths” by Sam F. Ghattas, Associated Press’ correspondent in Beirut, Thu Dec 28, 12:47 PM ET
The New York Times, “Despite a Lull at Holidays, Beirut Digs in for a Struggle” by Hassan M. Fattah, Published: December 29, 2006
Washington Post, “U.S. Readies Security Aid Package To Help Lebanon Counter Hezbollah” by Robin Wright, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, December 22, 2006; Page A29
UPI, “Analysis: Syria, Iran won Lebanon war” by Marianna Belenkaya, RIA Novosti political commentator, Moscow, Dec. 28
The Independent, “Review of the year: The Middle East” By Robert Fisk, Published: 29 December 2006
washingtonpost.com, World Opinion Roundup column titled “Lebanon: Civil War or Nasrallah’s Peace?” by Jefferson Morley, posted December 5, 2006; 1:53 AM ET
6 Comments
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Great omnibus collection of articles there, Violet. The situation in Lebanon is immediate and dire, as Senator Kerry noted in that interview; but it’s something that very few of the professional pundits, and even less of the professional politicians, seem at all inclined to discuss in public. And in the meanwhile, the clock just keeps on ticking down to even more disastrous civil conflict in the Middle East.
I am so glad that somebody - ANYBODY - brought this up. Thank you, Senator, and thank you, Violet.
This is a fascinating collection of articles. Lebanon is a perfect example of the Bush administration’s foreign policy inattention. Given the history and dynamics in the region, I can’t imagine what rationale was used to justify launching an unnecessary invasion of Iraq.
Thank you, Violet. I haven’t made it through all of these yet, but I do recommend the Haass article. This summary from the article:
Interesting. Diplomacy. Now who’s been recommending that again?
The Council for Foreign Relations is respected as a non-partisan meeting place for rational thinking.
Once the Iraq War began, given the sense of how complicated the present and future of the Middle East, the oil pricing instability, some at CFR have seemed ambivalent how to proceed.
I was an Israel point person for the New York campaign office, experiencing Kerry’s deeply understood and sane policies get trashed by the “Bush is better for Israel” emotional wedge issue. Not a single basis in fact.
Bush has done nothing but coax proxy wars in our name, in order to remake the Mid-East map. After pushing Ohlmert into attacking Lebanon, we needed this visit and to begin a dialogue.
Thank you so much, Senator.
Thanks for posting these articles. They really show a complexity of thought about what is going on in Lebanon and in Syria. There are several crises going on in the Middle East at the present time and they are all complicated and won’t respond to the type of gun barrel action that the Bush Administration seems determined to use to solve all problems.
I am still working my way through all these opinions, but thanks for posting them. This is why it was nice to see grownups like Sens. Kerry and Dodd discussing diplomacy during and after their recent trip. These are complex problems and require people with some experience and diplomatic skills to weigh in on some possible alternative solutions to these problems.