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Topic o' the day 2/16/2005Follow

#1 Feb 16 2005 at 11:15 AM Rating: Excellent
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With the recent assasination of former lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by large scale car bomb, sentiment in the country of Lebanon, which has for many years now been occupied by syrian troops, has turned dramatically anti-Syrian up to and including united protest marches by Sunni and Shia muslims and Christians. THose three factions generally hate eachother with religious fervor boardering on zeal. If they all unite, they must be pissed. they blame Syria for the attack.

So here is the question. Do you think that this incident will be enough to change the balance of political power in occupied lebanon? 0r will the internal divisions in the factions prove to be too much?
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#2 Feb 16 2005 at 11:17 AM Rating: Good
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I'd be more concerned of having it lead to a bunch of border skirmishes and blossoming outwards, honestly. That's pretty much exactly what happened in World War I, when the Archduke got killed.
#3 Feb 16 2005 at 11:26 AM Rating: Good
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I think that any alliances would be temporary, of course, so they could oust the Syrians. Ideologies always win out in the end, The battle for power afterwards would probably be bloodier and longer-lasting than anything to-date.
#4 Feb 16 2005 at 11:29 AM Rating: Good
Frankly, I find this rather boring. Couldn't we just talk about me instead?
#5 Feb 16 2005 at 11:32 AM Rating: Default
If a small protest in the former Soviet Union broke the gonvernment, anything is possible.
#6 Feb 16 2005 at 12:49 PM Rating: Decent
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I think we need to invade, kill everyone on both sides, and set up a puppet government. That's the only real strategy to take in the Middle East...
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#7 Feb 16 2005 at 12:56 PM Rating: Good
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I think we need to take a serious look at our (collective US) involvment in the middle east. The Bush administration is really throwing out the anti Syria rhetoric, hot on the heels of it's latest anti Iran rhetoric. Maybe we should focus on cleaning up Iraq and quietly taking a backstage in mideast politics. Conquering the Middle East = Not good
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#8 Feb 16 2005 at 12:59 PM Rating: Excellent
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Syria has always considered Lebanon to be a territory of Syria - maybe "protectorate" would be a better word. For the most part, Lebanon has gone along with that (with some notable exceptions). What Hariri did was try to align Lebanon with Saudi Arabia instead of Syria, to be more compatible, basically, with Israel and the US.

Some Syrians would consider that to be anti-Islam. Others would see it as a political threat. Almost all of them would see it as a rift in the family, unthinkable.
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#9 Feb 16 2005 at 1:11 PM Rating: Decent
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Lord xythex wrote:
I think we need to take a serious look at our (collective US) involvment in the middle east. The Bush administration is really throwing out the anti Syria rhetoric, hot on the heels of it's latest anti Iran rhetoric. Maybe we should focus on cleaning up Iraq and quietly taking a backstage in mideast politics. Conquering the Middle East = Not good

Maybe we should focus on cleaning up Afghanistan. You know, the war we had at least a tenuous legitimacy for, one that failed in its basic goal...one that was barelyunderway when we decided to hit Iraq, too.
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we all know liberals are well adjusted american citizens who only want what's best for society. While conservatives are evil money grubbing scum who only want to sh*t on the little man and rob the world of its resources.
#10 Feb 16 2005 at 1:21 PM Rating: Good
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Debalic wrote:
Lord xythex wrote:
I think we need to take a serious look at our (collective US) involvment in the middle east. The Bush administration is really throwing out the anti Syria rhetoric, hot on the heels of it's latest anti Iran rhetoric. Maybe we should focus on cleaning up Iraq and quietly taking a backstage in mideast politics. Conquering the Middle East = Not good

Maybe we should focus on cleaning up Afghanistan. You know, the war we had at least a tenuous legitimacy for, one that failed in its basic goal...one that was barelyunderway when we decided to hit Iraq, too.


Seriously, whats the likelihood of that happening?

To reiterate a lesson learned when I was in the Middle East last:

"Welcome to Lebanon! You've been hosed!"

The politics of that region are simply put, too complicated for the brain power of our current administration.

I know this post is garbaled rambling, but damnit, a girl can only have so much coffee before she realizes its stopped working.
#11 Feb 16 2005 at 1:55 PM Rating: Decent
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"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is only a valid strategy as long as the common enemy remains. I would imagine that the fear of one religious faction dominating the other will be enough to keep all of the factions in a state too defensive for them to bring about any truly lasting change.
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