[tomder55]

You haven't read about it (at least in the American press) but it happened last week .

Syrian troops on Thursday reportedly have penetrated three kilometers into Lebanese territories, taking up positions in the mountains near Yanta in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
The daily Al Mustaqbal, citing sources who confirmed the cross-border penetration, did not say when the procedure in the Fahs Hill overlooking Deir al-Ashaer in the Rashaya province took place.

The sources said Syrian troops, backed by bulldozers, were fortifying positions "in more than one area" along the Lebanese border, erecting earth mounds and digging "hundreds" of trenches and individual bunkers.

Syria on Wednesday reopened the Joussia-Qaa border post with Lebanon, but two crossings stayed closed.

Syria's state news agency SANA had said the closure of Jussia-Qaa on June 20 would stay in place "until calm has returned to northern Lebanon," where the Lebanese army has been locked in gunbattles with militants from Fatah al-Islam.

On May 20, at the outbreak of the clashes in Lebanon that have eased in the past week, Damascus shut two other border posts, at Arida and Dabussiya, keeping in place the main Masnaa crossing on the Beirut-Damascus highway.

There was no immediate confirmation from Damascus of the reopening of the Jussia border post linking Syria to eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon's anti-Syrian majority charges that Fatah al-Islam have links to Syrian intelligence, an allegation denied by Damascus.(Naharnet-AFP)

It was reported in the Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal

Naharnet News Desk

If Israel sent the IDF three kilometers into Lebanon and started digging trenches and building bunkers it would make news all over the world and generate world-wide condemnation.

The question is ; Does this signal a larger military adventure ?
Syria is evacuating it's citizens from Lebanon to be complete by the end of the week . Why ? Possibly because the UNSC is to meet Monday July 16 to discuss a report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which may implicate Syria directly.

Also the Hezbollah-led opposition threatened to establish a "second government" in Lebanon through "historical steps" in mid July. Hezbollah leader Nasrallah promised months ago that the elected government would be overthrown peacefully and hasn’t delivered. It looks clear to me that a manufactured crisis is imminent .There is no accommodating him . Political out-reach has been tried by the Siniora Gvt but whenever they are close Nasrallah ups the ante.

And why should he compromise ? Lebanon has no allies. That is clear by the non-response to the invasion last week by the West ,by the Arab world ,and by the UN. With it's ties to the nation ;perhaps new French President Sarkozy will show some of the backbone that I suspect he has. But I do not think the French are in a position to intervene on their own.

Who is left ? You guessed it... Isreal. Be prepared for another hot summer.

[excon]

Who is left ? You guessed it ........Isreal. Be prepared for another hot summer.

Hello tom:

Who is left? The same weak leader Olmert, who lost to Hezbollah last summer and paid no price. Nothing is different this year. He's the same guy who's giving Fattah (another terrorist organization) money and arms... Oh, yeah. Bush is doing it too.

As much as it pains me to say this, but it looks like the only people who have their act together in the arena, are OUR ENEMY'S!

excon

[tomder55]

You are probably right about Olmert . Today's news has him begging Assad for negotiations . The Daily Star - Politics - Olmert presses Assad to begin direct talks with Israel

But on the other hand at least he'd find out why Syria is pissed off.

[excon]

But on the other hand at least he'd find out why Syria is pissed off.

Hello again, tom:

Yes, they would and that ain't bad. However, they've never been unclear about their reasons up till now, so it's old news. That's not why you do it. You do it because you might find out how you could live in peace with your neighbor even though he hates your guts.
But you don't negotiate from a position of weakness. That's what Olmert (with OUR backing) is doing. It's wrong - just flat wrong. THIS is what happens when you LOSE a war.

I don't believe Ariel Sharon would have lost the war last summer. I'm a firm believer in the Sharon method of diplomacy. Talk to them like you're not fighting them, and fight them like you're not talking to them - or something like that.

excon

[ETWolverine]

There is a major difference excon and Tom.

Ohlmert's political career is on the line. He knows that he's perceived as a military weakling. Another war would give him the chance to repair the political damage done to him last summer. If war does happen, as I suspect it will, Ohlmert will give his military leadership full reign to do their jobs, unlike what he did last year. He needs a military victory to save his political career.

And the IDF is chomping at the bit at the possibility of a rematch with Hizbollah (and by extension, Syria). They want to prove to their people and the entire world that they are still the premier military power in the Middle East. Don't expect the half-assed response from the military that we saw last year. Israel will pull out all the stops in another face-off in Lebanon, and international cries of "disproportionate response" be damned. Israel's very survival is on the line. Without the image of overwhelming military superiority, Israel will be under constant attack from foreign governments. They need to repair that image, and they will spare no effort to do so.

Elliot

[excon]

the IDF is chomping at the bit at the possibility of a rematch with Hizbollah.

Hello again, El.

Go Jews!

excon

[speechlesstx]

Did you see this part?

Syria advises its citizens to leave Lebanon by July 15

Jul 9, 2007, 12:19 GMT

Beirut- Syria has urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country before July 15 because of fears that the volatile political climate in the country will deteriorate, Syrian sources said Monday.

'In the past few days, all Syrian nationals were asked through the Syrian government to leave, as Lebanon's current political crisis may become violent,' said a Syrian construction worker who requested anonymity. 'We are asked to leave Lebanon before July 15.'

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian workers, mainly farmers and construction workers, used to work in Lebanon. But their numbers have noticeably dwindled since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria.

July 15 comes one day before a special UN Security Council meeting which is expected to discuss the possibility of stationing international experts on the Syria-Lebanon border in order to monitor illegal arms trafficking to the Shiite Hezbollah movement, thought to be originating from Iran and Syria.

The Security Council is also expected to meet next week to discuss a key report on the assassination of Hariri, a development which may bode ill for Syria.

On July 5 the Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Syrian authorities had instructed all Syrian citizens residing in Lebanon to leave Lebanon in July.

Observers believe that the Syrian authorities may resort to closing the border with Lebanon.

The latest rumours have sparked caused anxiety and fear among the Lebanese.

'I am trying to take my kids out of Lebanon on July 10 to a nearby Arab country to observe the situation until the end of August,' housewife Amal Salameh said. 'If things stays the same I will return, if not I will take them back to the US.'

'There is probably nothing in it, but we're told to expect some major event on that day,' said Rana Naamani, another Lebanese housewife who decided to go to the mountains northeast of Beirut to stay away from the capital.

Are they're advising Syrians to leave because of the current "volatile political climate," or because they're about to make it more volatile?

[tomder55]

Yes I referred to that in my posting without linking a source . Clearly they intend to at very least support the Shia in Lebanon in a new civil war. Isaiah 17:1

[speechlesstx]

Yes I referred to that in my posting without linking a source . Clearly they intend to at very least support the Shia in Lebanon in a new civil war. Isaiah 17:1

Gee, I know my vision has taken a nose dive lately but that was bad, lol. Here's Isaiah 17:1 in case anyone is curious...

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

[Dark_crow]

You haven't read about it (at least in the American press) but it happened last week .



It was reported in the Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal

Naharnet News Desk

If Israel sent the IDF three kilometers into Lebanon and started digging trenches and building bunkers it would make news all over the world and generate world-wide condemnation.

The question is ; Does this signal a larger military adventure ?
Syria is evacuating it's citizens from Lebanon to be complete by the end of the week . Why ? Possibly because the UNSC is to meet Monday July 16 to discuss a report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which may implicate Syria directly.

Also the Hezbollah-led opposition threatened to establish a "second government" in Lebanon through "historical steps" in mid July. Hezbollah leader Nasrallah promised months ago that the elected government would be overthrown peacefully and hasn't delivered. It looks clear to me that a manufactured crisis is imminent .There is no accomodating him . Political out-reach has been tried by the Siniora Gvt but whenever they are close Nasrallah ups the ante.

And why should he compromise ? Lebanon has no allies. That is clear by the non-response to the invasion last week by the West ,by the Arab world ,and by the UN. With it's ties to the nation ;perhaps new French President Sarkozy will show some of the backbone that I suspect he has. But I do not think the French are in a position to intervene on their own.

Who is left ? You guessed it ........Isreal. Be prepared for another hot summer.

You are certainly right about Sarkozy... “Realists”, “Bush lied” “anti imperialist” crowds, are you listening?

“President Nicolas Sarkozy of France strode into the Napoleon III salon of the Élysée Palace and staked his claim to the leadership of Europe.
“I can't be criticized for wanting first place for France,” Mr. Sarkozy said in an interview with The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, his first with English-language news organizations since becoming president in May. He added, “If France doesn't take the lead, who will?”

Mr. Bush even praised Mr. Sarkozy's effort to break a political deadlock over coming elections in Lebanon by holding direct talks with Syria. While the Bush administration has isolated Syria, two senior French officials met last weekend in Damascus with Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, to warn him not to interfere in the elections.


“I have a partner in peace, somebody who has clear vision, basic values, who is willing to take tough positions to achieve peace,” Mr. Bush said. “And so when you ask, am I comfortable with the Sarkozy government sending messages, you bet I'm comfortable.”

Yesterday in a packed house of Congress

“[W]herever an American soldier dies in the world, I think of what the American army did for France”


Is that hot or what?


“Ladies and Gentlemen,The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars.
The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.

Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.”


I guess “French Toast is back on the menu :D

Political Mavens » SARKOZY REPLACES BLAIR AS THE BUSH HATERS' “BETE NOIRE”

[speechlesstx]

I guess “French Toast is back on the menu :D

Political Mavens » SARKOZY REPLACES BLAIR AS THE BUSH HATERS’ “BETE NOIRE”

I'd like to add a line to one of your quotes:

I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one's family.

Now I look forward to this year's Beaujolais :)

[Dark_crow]

I'd like to add a line to one of your quotes:



Now I look forward to this year's Beaujolais :)

“France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what’s at stake in that country is the future of our values and that of the Atlantic Alliance. Let me say solemnly before you today: Failure is not an option.
Terrorism will not win because democracies haven't the right to be weak, and because the free world is not afraid of this new barbarism. America can count on France in the fight against terrorism.
France must be stronger. I am determined to carry through all the reforms that my country has put off for too long. I will not backtrack, because France has backtracked for too long. France has enormous assets. I want to put France in a position, while respecting its unique identity, to win all the battles of globalization. I passionately love France. I am clear-sighted about the work that remains to be accomplished.
It is this ambitious, clear-sighted France I have come to present to you today. A France that comes out to meet America to renew the pact of friendship and the alliance that Washington and Lafayette sealed in Yorktown.”

You got to love it…
Speech by Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic before the Congress of the United States of America
Washington, November 7, 2007
Embassy of France in the US - State visit to the United States

[tomder55]

DC I printed and saved his speech. I think every American should read it .

It sort of puts the lie to rest that we are hated worldwide.

I suspect that before his time is through we will erect a statue of Sarkosy in Laffayette Park .

[speechlesstx]

DC I printed and saved his speech. I think every American should read it .

It sorta puts the lie to rest that we are hated worldwide.

I suspect that before his time is through we will erect a statue of Sarkosy in Laffayette Park .

Mitch McConnell said, “You just heard a Ronald Reagan speech from a president of France. It was an almost out-of-body experience for all of us.”

Tom Lantos, Democrat chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs said, “President Sarkozy has hit a home run out of the ballpark...I expect a spectacular renaissance in French-American relations.” But then added, “In view of everything we know now — the flawed intelligence, the miserable execution of the post-military phase — the French certainly were right.”

Apparently Lantos missed Sarkozy's Lafayette quote, "I have come here to learn, not to teach."

[Dark_crow]

DC I printed and saved his speech. I think every American should read it .

It sorta puts the lie to rest that we are hated worldwide.

I suspect that before his time is through we will erect a statue of Sarkosy in Laffayette Park .

What I haven’t seen is the major media picking it up. If I recall correctly it was in the financial section in one source and page 12 in another.

I agree, and every kid in school should should be shown the speech in their government class.

[tomder55]

Frank Rich's typical over the top hyperbole .

In the six years of compromising our principles since 9/11, our democracy has so steadily been defined down that it now can resemble the supposedly aspiring democracies we’ve propped up in places like Islamabad.

The Coup at Home - New York Times

President Bush went through an election cycle in 2004 ,and won a narrow election . Had he lost he would've stepped down . His party lost Congress and Bush has acknowledged the will of the people. He accepts Supreme Court decisions that over-rule him ;He doesn't arrest the judges. So how does Rich make the leap to compare what is happening in Pakistan to the USA ?
I'd have to ask the drama queen Frank Rich(he used to be a hated Broadway critic) how he thinks a true dictator would react to a shrill hit piece like his article. As usual he dupes his BDS readership with false moral equivalence.

[speechlesstx]

What I haven’t seen is the major media picking it up. If I recall correctly it was in the financial section in one source and page 12 in another.

I agree, and every kid in school should should be shown the speech in their government class.

The media did report on the speech but I don't recall anything in my paper or on TV.

If you want required reading, read Frank Rich's op-ed in the NY Times yesterday.

Thanks ex, we have a local opinion columnist that drives most us nuts - now I know who he's modeled himself after :D

Rich's topic(s) are worth discussing, why don't you bring it up? But I do have to say, if America is in a"clinical depression" it ain't all Bush's fault. People like Rich are doing their fair share to see to it that we are depressed.

[Dark_crow]

The media did report on the speech but I don't recall anything in my paper or on TV.



Thanks ex, we have a local opinion columnist that drives most us nuts - now I know who he's modeled himself after :D

Rich's topic(s) are worth discussing, why don't you bring it up? But I do have to say, if America is in a"clinical depression" it ain't all Bush's fault. People like Rich are doing their fair share to see to it that we are depressed.

Yeah, if an Attorney General started writing law, as Frank Rich and his groupies suggest Mukasey do with 'waterboarding' Rich would be the first one to feed his groupies at the 'pig trough' over that.

[speechlesstx]

Frank Rich's typical over the top hyperbole .


The Coup at Home - New York Times

President Bush went through an election cycle in 2004 ,and won a narrow election . Had he lost he would've stepped down . His party lost Congress and Bush has acknowledged the will of the people. He accepts Supreme Court decisions that over-rule him ;He doesn't arrest the judges. So how does Rich make the leap to compare what is happening in Pakistan to the USA ?

It still baffles me how supposedly intelligent people can say such things with a straight face... still, in the midst of a presidential campaign a year before he steps down.

I'd have to ask the drama queen Frank Rich(he used to be a hated Broadway critic) how he thinks a true dictator would react to a shrill hit piece like his article. As usual he dupes his BDS readership with false moral equivalence.

Maybe he should try drawing a Mohammad cartoon and see what happens.