The Inside Straight

Turning scraps of data into intelligence is like trying to fill an inside straight: You need patience -and a bit of luck !

Media Goals Questionable Says Roger Ailes

Quotable Quotes: (This by Roger Ailes of Fox News Network)

Other cable news networks seem less interested in reporting the complicated politics of the crisis in Lebanon than in trying to embarrass the U.S. government, Ailes said.

''One of my competitors spent three days on Cyprus trying to find somebody who didn't like the government because the plane was four hours late and they didn't get a candy bar in line,'' he said, jabbing at a lengthy report by CNN's Soledad O'Brien on the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Beirut. ``I thought that was not where the story was.''

Personally,I don't think new coverage of Lebanon should be a non-stop commercial for the Israeli Army, either.Fox gets a bit carried away with that part-just as CNN seems to focus on making us feel warm and fuzzy towards Hezbollah and/or Koffi Annan...

July 26, 2006 in news and analysis | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Lebanon's "Adopted Wolves" Now Endanger Her

There was a report yesterday of a Pennsylvania woman who was killed by the very hybrid (half dog-half wolf) animals she raised. The tragedy reminds me of the situation in Lebanon,where the populace is at risk from Hezbollah : a wolfish paramilitary group tied closely to Hamas in Palestine, to Syria, and to the Iranian "Mullah-cracy".

Lebanon-a nation torn apart for 15 years by one of the bloodiest civil wars in recent memory,was in no condition to resist when Iranian-trained,Syrian armed Hezbollah (Party of God) guerrillas entered in the early 1980's.

When the fighting sputtered to an end, Syria controlled the nearly bankrupt nation, and Hezbollah - funded by huge sums from Iran- stepped in to build schools and clinics : especially for the 400,000 Palestinian refugees stranded there by the Arab/Israeli wars.

They also moved in-quietly but effectively-to take over Lebanon's "underworld" : setting up heroin processing labs in the fertile Bekaa Valley that borders the mountains of Syria; counterfeiting operations-equipped with Syrian manufactured intaglio printing plates: capable of producing US currency so good only an expert could tell the bills apart. They grew opium poppies and marijuana in the Valley,processed cocaine salts from Latin America,and smuggled drugs and tax-free cigarettes into an eager European market.

The Lebanese people-who had been smugglers for untold generations themselves,looked on Hezbollah with favor. There were bribes to be collected, loads to be transported,ships to be loaded and sailed.

In a country where 28% of the population lives at or below the poverty level, the infusions of tax-free cash were like a gift from heaven-and, if the same vessels and trains and trucks that carried lucrative contraband were also used to transport thousands of missiles, what of it ?

The Lebanese-most of whom are Arabs, and approximately 60% of whom are Muslims,have no great love for Israel,and have not been overly indignant about Hezbollah's cross-border attacks on that nation.Some I've chatted with seemed to get a vicarious thrill from the indignities - (somewhat like New Yorkers rooting for the Mets)- although many expressed the opinion the Army should get around to disarming Hezbollah....one of these days.

In time, the wolfish Hezbollah became so thoroughly "hybridized", it won recognition as a political party-and a nice,cohesive block of seats in Parliament.

In a nation where the mere listing of competing political parties takes up almost a full page, holding a 23 seat,tightly disciplined voting bloc in a shaky 128 seat parliament is almost as good as holding a clear majority-without the accompanying responsibilities.Hezbollah can pretty much get what it wants.

The present Israeli/Lebanon conflict is said to be about the killing and kidnapping of " a few" Israeli soldiers ; but in truth, the hybrid Lebanese/Hezbollah pack has been worrying the flanks of its hot-tempered neighbor-and drawing blood - for two decades;and most sensible people feel the July 2006 cross-border attack was merely the last straw on an intolerable load.

As I write this,Iaraeli troops have crossed the border into Lebanon,and have occupied a village.Lebanon's Defense Minister has threatened to send the Army to fight alongside Hezbollah,and the possibility Lebanon will be torn apart - yet again - looms depressingly high.

Harboring and nurturing a wolf pack can be very bad for a struggling nation's health !

July 21, 2006 in news and analysis | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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