Hassan Nasrallah gives the perfect example of hypocrisy and misplaced arrogance

Hassan Nasrallah (HN) has said recently (yesterday) that Hizbullah (HA) is still present in the south of Lebanon, even on the border (with Israel).
Moreover, he said he does not regret the capture of the 2 Israeli soldiers and thanks "God" for helping them do it.
Nasrallah also launched his yet fiercest attack on the government (which his party is part of), and on PM Saniora himself, calling him an amercian tool, and accusing the march 14 coalition of helping Israel during the war.
He also accused the government of not being able neither to stop the war nor to protect Lebanon.
He carried on to attack the government's decision to receive the "killer" Blair, the britsh PM, saying the government had shown little regard for his group and those who died during the war by agreeing to meet with Blair.

Of course, after once again asserting that HA won the war (and not Lebanon), he called for the formation of a new national unity government to include Michel Aoun.


What can one answer to that ?... well, let's give it a shot, shall we !

Can HN really be serious about accusing the government of not being able to stop the war ?
I find this really bold, to say the least.
How can he wonder about the way to stop the war, while he unilaterally started it ??
Did he ask the government's permission to start the war, in the first place ?
What gives him the right now to blame the goverment on a war HE started, and may I add, illegally ?

Again, how can the government protect Lebanon, while HA fighters were hiding among civilians ? or while they were using the UN posts as shields, as many UNIFIL reports very clearly show ? The most famous report in that sense is maybe the one written by the canadian soldier, who died a few days later in an israeli airstrike.

HN didn't get into details on how the march 14 coalition was helping Israel during the war. So one cannot answer this point.
But I would say the ones who helped Israel do all this destruction to the country would be the party which crossed the internationally recognized borders and kidnapped 2 soldiers, giving Israel the perfect reason. Afterwards, I hardly think Israel was counting on march 14 support to carry on with the war.

And now for the best part, where HN accuses the government of showing little regard for his group and those who died during the war by agreeing to meet with Blair.
oh ?..
were HA fighters really concerned about the lives of the civilians they were hiding among ? shiites, sunnis, druze and christians.
Talking about respect, I cannot really recall HA showing any, for the many lebanese fallen victim to the syrian regime, nor to the assassination of Hariri and the 20 others who died with him in that attempt.

Were HA showing respect to the lebanese people when they staged a huge tribute to the syrian occupation of Lebanon, before the syrian troops left it ?
Were HA showing respect to their country, when they were holding big posters of the syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, during that same tribute, and chanting "our soul, our blood, are yours, Bashar !" ?
So how was that considerate to all the lebanese killed by the hands of the syrian occupation ?
how was it respectful to all the lebanese prisoners in the syrian jails, and whom Syria insist on denying their very existence ?
Shall we ask the mothers who are holding pictures of their imprisoned sons and daughters in syrian jails, how they felt when they saw HA paying warm tribute to Syria ?

Do we see people chanting "Our soul, our blood are yours, Blair, Bush, Chirac !" ?


As for Michel Aoun.. I think I wrote enough articles about this man. you can check out my previous posts. The only thing he shares with HN is his megalomania, and the fact that HN is using him.

All this in the name of national unity, for you see, this theme sells well in a country like Lebanon.

I think that HN just forgot that he is just a party leader. He obviously likes playing the role of national leader, which he is not.

I hear him, and I see only hypocrisy and misplaced arrogance.

What is the R E A L problem with the Lebanese, politically speaking ?

It is a question I have been asking myself for quite some time now.
I still do actually, even though I am beginning to have what seems to be a start of a complete answer.
I will expose my opinion about what I think the real problem with the lebanese is, politically speaking. Again, it is my own opinion, and I invite you to write yours, always in the same spirit, as the famous french writer Voltaire once said:

"Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je défendrai jusqu'à la mort le droit que vous avez de le dire" ( I do not agree with you, but until I die I will defend your right to state your opinion) (I chose to write it also in french for the french readers, and be it also a small wink to a journalist who I hope will recognize herself).

It begins like this: the Lebanese have been living for too long under corrupt regimes, and in an unhealthy atmosphere.
With the Syrians out, and Hizbullah (HA) under the international community's microscop, it is getting better, but that is only the tip of the iceberg, I fear.

The Lebanese are used to vote according to their own interests, and not that of their country. They are not to blame; had they done otherwise they would have starved to death, of worse, been left to rot in some dark jail cell.

"I vote for this man because he promised he would get my son out of prison", or "I vote for that man because he promised me he would pay for my medical treatment I so much need", are sentences that you could hear during the syrian occupation of Lebanon, and probably still now, in some villages.
For you see, habits are very difficult to get rid of.....

But, the story doesn't end here..
The most dangerous aspect of this is, the Lebanese have somehow developped what I like to call the "personality cult" towards their leaders.
It is not excluded to hear a supporter of mister X say: "Mister X is really a great man, the Lebanese do not deserve him !"..
Let me repeat that: "the Lebanese do not deserve him !".....

Yes, in Lebanon, it is up to the people to be to the liking of their leaders.. and not the other way around.

After my 3 posts about Aoun (which you can still read on my blog), I got a lot of mail, and comments, even messages from friends, telling me: "You know what, you are really mean, and you do not understand anything about politics, and most of all, you do not deserve General Michel Aoun !". I will spare you the less polite mails.

Sad, really..

Let's examine the situation of Aoun precisely in more details. Yes I liked a lot the hate mails I was receiving, so why change a winning horse ?
For as long as I can remember, Aoun was always an outspoken opposer of Syria, and the occupation of Lebanon. This earned him an enormous popular support, especially among the christians.
Upon his return from exile in 2005, and for a few months following that, he kept the same stance, criticizing harshly HA's "state within a state", and claiming loud and clear that "no weapons should be left outside the LAF's hands" (LAF=Lebanese Armed Forces).

His supporters, and I must admit I was among those, were extatic and opposed HA in every way and on every occasion.

But than, Aoun changed stances radically (without getting into the details of why).
OVERNIGHT, the Aounists became best friends with HA, their "natural allies".......
For those of you who are familiar with George Orwell's "1984", doesn't that remind you of anything ?
Why did the Aounists react in such a manner ?
Simply because of the Personality Cult that leaders in Lebanon install on their followers.

For you see, the Aounists do not agree on Aoun's ideas, they agree on Aoun himself. Big difference.

And for those who see politics differently (yours truly), and who stopped supporting Aoun after he stopped speaking in their name, they are faced with the 2 magic sentences:
- "You are not worthy of Aoun"
- "He knows what he is doing, he is more intelligent and aware than us, for he is the leader"

I myself resent that, hence my stance today.
Apparently, and fortunately, I am far from being the only one.
A friend, who was an Aounist, told me that there is starting to be a difference between Aounists and LFPM members (LFPM is Aoun's party).

With HA giving cash money to the refugees who lost their homes, I'm afraid the phenomenon lives on.

As long as there will be this personality cult in Lebanon, and as long as the majority of the people will try to be up to their leaders' expectations, instead of judging them on their work, instead of voting on the long term's benefit, and not the short term's one, nothing can be achieved, I'm afraid.


So is Lebanon doomed ? .... NO ! there are 4 million Lebanese in Lebanon, 15 million Lebanese in the diaspora, spread worldwide.
The personality cult desease does not apply, or at least not in the same proportions, to the diaspora.

The next battle ? getting the right to vote, for the diaspora..


A special dedication to all those who wrote to me saying that I am a traitor not deserving this and that leader, I say that slaves do not fight. This is the priviledge of free men. Free man I am, free man I wish to remain, and everytime one of these megalomaniac leaders stops speaking in my name, he will stop getting my support.
The battle wages on.

5 years.. Heartfelt Tribute and a burning tear to unknown Heroes

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For once, this only time, and for this only post, I do not really care about comments. You are welcome to leave some, of course, I will read them with great interest, but I won't be answering any questions. This post is a tribute, and I like it to remain just that, without any debate. It is in a sense a selfish post, I kind of wrote it for myself.
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It has been 5 years day to day, since 2 airplanes hit the twin towers in NYC.

In this article, I don't feel like writing poems, or repeating over and over again the same words we have been hearing for the last 5 years, or even asking "why?". Not that I do not feel this way, but I think many say it and have said it better than I could ever do..

No, in this article, I would like to pay a tribute to people who touched me deeply and left a scar deep inside that is refusing to heal.

I am no american, I have never visited the twin towers in my life.
No, on that dark september 11th, I was comfortably in my parisian flat, watching as the terror unfolded.



And then, yet another horrible thing happened:

There was an amateur video showing people evacuating the twin towers by the stairs.
All who could still walk were going down the stairs as FAST as they could, sometimes even stumbling and falling, getting up again, and running DOWN the stairs.

And then IT happened.
In all this mist, and out of nowhere, like fantoms, appearing from the chaos, a unit of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), was going UP the stairs.

All the people were running down, but these uniformed men were going UP, on the stairs, just as fast as the others were going down.
One fireman even looked straight in the camera. I will never forget those big blue eyes.

Were they aware that many of them were running straight to their death ?
No doubt about that.
Why did they do it anyway ?
Because it is their job, because it is what they do, because this is what distinguishes heroes from normal people.


Just to think that this could have happened in Paris, and that me or my colleagues could have been in the shoes of those brave heroes, makes chills go down my spine..
I remember being put on alert that week in the French capital.
I also remember my colleagues and me looking at each others without whispering a word.

For you see, we weren't yet aware of the number of casualties among firefighters, but there was no doubt in our spirit that once this number would be out, it would hurt a great deal.
We were right..

From one firefighter/rescuer to all the fallen comrades that dark day in the United States, a heartfelt tribute, and a burning tear..

This scar refusing to heal will be my companion to the grave, and those blue eyes will hunt me forever.


Image taken from the official FDNY website

You've Been Tagged

Apparently, I have been tagged (by Free Cedar) and now my punishment is to answer the following questions ;)
So here goes

1- Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?

I'm deeply in love, head over heels.

2- Does your family know about your blog?

hmmm.. using my name and family name doesn't exactly qualify as camouflage.

3- Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?

My friends know about it. They are my main inspiration through our discussions.

4- Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? or you try to discover new blogs?

Depends on the time I have on my hands. This might come as a shocker to you, but I do not live off my blog, so I have to go work sometimes..

5- Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example.

The blog is an internal product of my brain. As such, it cannot have a great effect on it.

6- What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you use a traffic counter?

The number of visitors means that I am not insane as in talking to myself all the time.
I use a traffic counter.

7- Did you imagine how other bloggers look like?

Not really.. why, are they ugly ?? What am I missing ?

8- Do you think blogging have any real benefit?

can't say, haven't been following the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq lately..

9- Do you think that the blogsphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?

Yes, all bloggers are mysterious wanderers who only come out at night, and eat off bats. We also have 3 eyes.

10- Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them.

Some scare me because I see how extrem and stupid they are. Many bloggers have never set foot outside their country, regardless what this country is. With such bloggers, you are guaranteed to read some funny but scary stuff. I do not avoid them, they say know your ennemy.

11- Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?

No, my blog is perfect. I know the blogger, he is perfect too.
Before I start getting more hate mail, I am kidding !
Criticism can be useful, it has been in many cases for me, but it can also be futile.

12- Have you ever thought about what happen to your blog in case you died.

No, I am immortal.
Brother of duncan McLeod, from the clan McLeod. Jean McSouc at your service.

13- Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?

Jean Souc. (read, noone paid me enough to write their name here)

14- Which blogger you think is the most similar to you.

Duncan McLeod.

15- Name a song you want to listen to?

Princes of the Univers by Queen.

16- Ask five bloggers to answer these question on their blogs?

I do not need 5 more ennemis writing me hate mail !
Feel free to put yourself in this list, in the comment section, and consider yourself tagged by me.
So here goes for me:

1. Homer Jay Simpson
2. Stanley "Stan" Marsh
3. Cartman
4. Luke Skywalker
5. Antonio "Scarface" Montana