Adonis Diaries

Bi-Weekly Report (#16) on Lebanon and the Middle East (April 16, 2009)

On April 13, the date of the start of the civil war in Lebanon in 1975, contraband Mafioso of the Jaafar clan in the Bekaa Valley shot at a military convoy; they killed four soldiers and injured 13.  CNN reported that the Lebanese army was supporting an internal directive to close down drug trafficking hot spots located in towns closed to government interventions, such as the large town of Erssal where stolen cars are parked and re-negotiated with the owners. This plan of entering and monitoring enclaves has been in execution for a couple of months with some success.  Why this assault was triggered just on April 13, the date of the start of the civil war?  Maybe the contraband militants wanted to dress up their action with political undertones, such as the Americans are intervening again in our internal affairs by providing arms to the Lebanese army in exchange of relieving Israel in its drug war across the border. 

            Israel’s economy relies heavily on drug and slave trafficking; obviously, it is not in the interest of Israel to stop the influx of drugs from Lebanon; why should it buy drugs from Afghanistan or elsewhere when it is handier and less costly from its neighbors?  Cost is the main factor.  Israel is not worried on the supply side but is not happy to buy drugs at higher prices.  Israel would like to transact with clans in Lebanon and not with heavy weight militias with strong political backing.

            Egypt of Mubarak is playing the clown.  Egypt’s justice of this three decades long dictatorship is famous for being politically guided and oriented at desires.  It appears that a month before Israel launched its genocide attack on Gaza, and six months of total blockade before the genocide, a blockade that is still ongoing by Israel and Egypt, Egypt had detained a Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah admitted to be a member.  The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasr Allah, said in a televised speech last week that this member was aiding the Palestinians of Gaza in transporting (3attal) materials through tunnels, as if helping the Palestinians in a crime and not a badge of honor.  Egypt’s justice would like you to believe that Hezbollah was organizing a vast network of cells for disturbing internal security.  Egypt’s Foreign Minister would like you to believe that Iran, that became predominantly Shiaa only in the 18^th century, hates Salladin (Salah El Deen), who freed Jerusalem from the Crusaders, because he replaced a Shiaa Fatimide dynasty in Egypt with a Sunni Ayubeed dynasty in the 12^th century!  

Mubarak should have thanked Hezbollah for relieving Egypt of the sustained US pressures and giving him a huge and sound excuse for maintaining a semblance of autonomy.  Instead, Mubarak is left with no cards to lick the ass of the US Administration but to show public animosity to Hezbollah. Mubarak is like those going to Mecca while the Hajjis are returning; Mubarak did not get it yet: the US in no longer interested in Hezbollah; it has much bigger problems that to be pleased by Mubarak.  How low can a mighty nation such as Egypt stoop so that its regime secures a misery two billions dollars in financial aids to distribute to its cronies and Presidential security?

The fact is, Saudi Arabia had been investing billions in the last 40 years on building new mosques in Egypt and hiring clerics to proselytize the ultra conservative and dark Wahhabit sect and for chant Saudi monarch’s praise on Friday’s prayers.  The fact is that the Mubarak regime had lost the last shred of political credibility and viability for handling Arab disunity, as if the Arab States have ever experience the semblance of unity in 60 years.  The Mubarak regime cowed in front of Israel and let the Palestinians of Gaza be massacred like sheep, like sitting ducks for three weeks.  The fact is that the majority of the European leaders, instantly after the genocide, flocked to Charm El Sheikh to offer support and bolster Mubarak’s political standing; the European leaders wanted to believe that Mubarak had a long-term plan and could be the best mediator among the Palestinian factions, that Mubarak is the rock of the Arab League.  The European leaders quickly realized that Mubarak is a cranky senile and an impotent old leader: after five months of negotiations the Palestinians failed to unite on a resolution and Gaza is suffering total blockade and daily Israeli raids.  The fact is that the European leaders and Barak Obama of the USA pinpointed the heavy weight champs in this region: mainly Turkey and Iran and have no time to waste on re-visiting a Mubarak

Rumors in Lebanon and Egypt would like you to believe that Hezbollah unilaterally engaged war against “mighty” Israel in June 2006 to re-create the battle of Karbala without being defeated this time around (the battle where Hussein, son of Ali, was vanquished by Yazeed bin Muawiya around 700 AC).  Rumors would like you to believe that the Sunni are not conservative, simply because they enjoyed political dominance through Islam’s history.  The Sunni sect would like you to believe that, in theory and theologically, is “Haneef” (orthodox) abiding by the premises of following common denominators among the monolithic religious sects. The Sunni females would not hastily rejoin their males’ contentions. Ironically, the Wahabit sect of Saudi Arabia (the most reductive and close minded sect that ever existed) would like to be regarded as the leading Sunni sect.

Rumors would like you to believe that the Sunni are engaging in hate extremism against the Shiaa because implicitly; the Shiaa are planning to becoming the dominant political faction in Lebanon; as if this is not already a reality demographically and organizationally. The Shiaa have earned their spot under the sun because they resisted Israel’s consistent humiliation of Lebanon for over 60 years under various pretenses. Rumors would like you to believe that the Sunni started to be apprehensive of the Shiaa power as the Syrian mandate in Lebanon gave green light to the “Amal” militia (of Nabeeh Berry, currently the Parliament Chief) during the civil war to enter the Palestinian camps in Beirut and then giving sole monopoly for resisting Israel to Hezbollah. One fact remains: the Sunni around the Arab World and particularly in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are being indoctrinated on the Wahhabit Saudi Arabia extra conservative sect. Current terrorist activities among the Moslems are rooted in the Wahhabit sect’s culture, such as Al Qaeda of Ben Laden. 

It appears that there was lately a power struggle within the Saudi family. The head of the Saudi secret services, former Ambassador to the USA “Emir” Bandar, plotted for his father, Defense Minister, to replace King Abdullah. I am not waging that the Wahhabit political proselytizing drive would end but at least a slowing down is comforting to many Moslem States.