Lebanon
Lebanon is an interesting situation, and in many ways is in a pickle of sorts. As of now you have Iran and Syria controlling the country. Iran and Syria made an agreement of sorts. Iran said to Syria you can milk Lebanon and its natural resources for all its worth, you can tax the citizens as much as you want, just let Hezbollah into the country and leave them alone. Syria agreed and that’s essentially where we are today. Today Iran gives Lebanon approximately 1 billion dollars to keep the economy afloat and treats Lebanon as its backyard. It is for these reasons President Bush has listed Lebanon in the “Axis of Evil.”
Lebanon today is doing its best to get out of the axis of evil and trying to create positive relations with Israel. Why are they doing this you may ask, the answer is simple. In order to break relations with Iran and Syria they need money, specifically America’s money. The problem is President Bush and the United States does not support or talk to terrorist counties in the Axis of Evil. In the eyes of the Lebanon Government the best way to get out of the Axis of evil and into the deep pockets of America is to establish relations with one of America’s greatest allies, Israel.
One may say well if they want out of the Axis of Evil, just break relations with Syria and Iran, remove the terrorist organizations like Hezbollah that have their HQ in Lebanon, and everything will work out. It is not that easy, as previously stated the billion dollars that Iran gives the country is essentially the only thing keeping their economy and country alive. So they are trying to get in the pockets of America before breaking ties and no longer accepting money from Iran and Syria.
This whole thing is very shady and I would suggest all beware and not to trust Lebanon. One day Lebanon hates and wants to destroy Israel by supporting terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas and now all of a sudden they want to be friends? I don’t think so, I do not believe their intentions are genuine and Lebanon should not be trusted. They are only being nice to get out of the Axis of evil, get out of the sanctions isolating them, and to get in the pockets of the American taxpayer.
Tags: Anthony Pugliese, Iran, Lebanon, Middle East
July 20th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Good thoughts, Anthony. I agree that this deal of sorts is in fact rather shady. I would think Lebanon, if they are truly serious about cutting ties to the axis of evil, needs to reconsider their support of Hezbollah and Hamas PERIOD, not just when it suits them. Afterall, Hezbollah and Hamas can’t give them what they need NEARLY to the degree the U.S. or Israel can. So you’re right, they are only playing nice for the time being to get out from under the sanctions that are screwing up their “economy” and their “nation” or whatever they have left of either one of them. In the end, just to suck the American taxpayers dry.
Just like our own congress with this new proposed increase in the gas tax. Hear about that one lately? It’s a doozie (spelling).
July 21st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Thanks for posting this Anthony. It gives people a better idea of whats going on!
July 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
wow, so many factual mistakes in this post. first, lebanon is not part of the axis of evil. and neither is syria, although some people like to pretend it is. the u.s has diplomatic relations with syria, i’ve been to the embassy in damascus.
second hezbollah is an indiginous lebanese organization. actually it’s both a lebanese political party and a shia militia that took part in the lebanese civil war. hezbollah did receive assistance from iran during the lebanese civil war because iran sees itself as the protector of shia islam. meanwhile hezbollah briefly fought with syrian troops after syria invaded lebanon to put an end to the war. syria eventually did end the war, by beating all the factions and imposing peace on the country. in 2005 syria pulled out of the country and between 2005 and this year lebanon was governed by an anti-syria coalition government called the march 14th alliance.
israel attacked lebanon (in retaliation for hezbollah’s cross-border raid) in 2006, attacking the entire country, even areas not sympathetic to hezbollah. because hezbollah eventually drove the israelis out, the war greatly strengthened hezbollah and turned all factions in the country strongly against israel. hezbollah later leveraged their new political strength and forced the march 14th coalition to enter into power-sharing arrangement. hezbollah is now in partial control of the country.
also at no point in recent history has lebanon “trying to create positive relations with Israel.”
July 28th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Although you would make it appear otherwise, you do not know what you are talking about on this, and from what I have seen in the past, several issues regarding the middle east. I just returned from a trip to the middle east where I was there for United States/ Israeli relations. While there we were briefed by Knesset officials, which since you are so informed and smart you would realize this is their version of congress. It was by these Knesset members and officials from the ministry of defense I learned about the issues I discussed in my post. If you think I am lying I would advise you to contact your leadership in the CDA, they were there as well. For example Katie Naranjo who is running for CDA President, along with her there were others from CDA leadership present. Thanks and have a fantastic day!
July 30th, 2008 at 9:17 am
did israeli officials tell you that lebanon was part of the axis of evil? or that syria is? or that there is any political party in lebanon that isn’t on the far fringe that advocates better relations with israel? or that the lebanese government is trying to “remove the terrorist organization hezbollah” when just last month hezbollah became part of the ruling coalition and picked the new lebanese president? or that lebanon is under american sanctions? do you have links for any of that? or are you just going to assure me that you were told with good authority by ministers in the israeli government that contradicts every other source about israeli-lebanese relations, including things i have experience first hand?
i mean, you can pull your i-met-with-israeli-officials card all you want. it’s pretty clear to me that you really don’t know much about lebanon. maybe the israeli officials lied to you, or maybe you just misunderstood what they were saying.