Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I heard former leftist-turned-right-wing sectarian columnist George Nasif* on LBC-TV. He was talking about "the enemy" in Lebanon. "They" are "four-legged" and "monsters" he said. He did not have to explain who he had in mind. His audience must have been impressed. Only As-Safir yesterday mentioned the racist chants by the "democratic" youths of Lebanon. Read the article on Tuwayni in NYT today. You would not know anything about him. How NYT often writes articles from which you learn nothing. Absolutely nothing. But I was most disappointed with the Guardian. And I am a big fan of the Guardian. It is the first newspaper that I read every day. I like their coverage of the Middle East very much. But their article on Tuwayni left out his right-wing political past. And this is not, of course not, to justify or even explain the murder. But this is part of the man's history, of which he was quite proud. He was even proud of this attempt to occupy and ransack the US embassy in Beirut in 1990. Not a single newspaper mentioned that. Lebanese newspapers mentioned that. I forgot to mention yesterday that last summer Nadi At-Tadamun in Tyre tried to organize a debate between Jubran Tuwayni and me. He turned the offer down. So I went and debated myself. How did I do? I kicked my own ass. Oh, ya.
*Do you know what George Nasir used to say about the Syrian regime only a few years ago? You should read those people. If I have a staff, I would collect and publish the speeches and interviews by the Lebanese "revolutionaries" in which they pathetically praised the Syrian regime. But then again. These are men (and women lest we forget Na'ila Mu`awwad) who have no principles and no convictions. These are people, like Jumblat, who are willing to change their stances overnight if that will enhance their political and sectarian positions. Enjoy the Lebanon and its politics.