One of the articles I linked to in that piece that came out the day before election day quotes both Hariri and Jumblatt saying the Hezballah will not be disarmed.

Wouldn’t be the first time…

Lebanese politics has long fascinated me, stemming back to my conservative youth when Israel was invading and the Lebanese Warlords were killing each other.

One very interesting development is Walid Jumblatt. He’s long been one of Syria’s most vocal critics. And he’s sometimes operated as an ally of sorts of Israel in years past.

I recently saw an interview with Jumblatt on PBS. Noteworthy was his going well out of his way to not criticize Syria even though the woman interviewing him gave him repeated opportunities to do so.

The other noteworthy thing in that interview was Jumblatt bluntly stating that Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization. He then repeated it word for word to emphasize his point.

Obviously his point was a political one. But, given the often crucial role that Druze play not only in Lebanon, but also in Syria and the Occupied Territories under Israeli control (Druze voluntarily serve in the IDF in droves too), his assertion is not insignificant. The repercussions will be interesting to observe.

Again, nice post. None of the insipid knee-jerk spin that I’ve come to associate with rightwingers. Kudos for laying it out as you see it and without trying to spin it politically.