Four countries are racing to control the oil under the eastern Mediterranean.
It’s far from a friendly competition. Of those four, two are locked in an ongoing state of war and the third refuses to recognize the fourth.
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Lawrence of Arabia
Hana Makhmalbaf’s Green Days, on the opposition protests in Iran last year, was pulled from its 12 October slot at the Beirut International Film Festival, when its showing would have coincided with the arrival of Ahmadinejad, and moved to 14 or 15 October, to coincide with his departure, due the intervention of Lebanese General Security.
Makhmalbaf’s written comments on the situation can be seen here.
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Lawrence of Arabia
Review of Nada Abdelsamad’s Arab-language documentary, The Jews of Lebanon.
Many left in silence, hastily packing their belongings. From one day to the next, the Jews of Lebanon were gone. “We sat down and cried on the doorstep of the house,” said one elderly Lebanese woman in a new film about Lebanon’s now-destroyed Jewish community.
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Lawrence of Arabia
The annual Zogby poll on Middle Eastern political attitudes is out.
Arabs have quickly abandoned their hope that the election of Obama would mean some sort of positive change in American policy toward the region: In 2009, 51% were Hopeful, with only 15% Discouraged; in 2010 the number had fallen to 16% Hopeful and 63% Discouraged. Views of Obama as a person showed a similar shift, though the 2009 personal approval numbers were never as high.
That said, views toward the United States itself have remained virtually unchanged (and uniformly negative) from the end of the Bush years to the present.
The full results of the poll can be found here.
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Lawrence of Arabia
Practically, it changes very little…
“For the first time, it actually gives them some legal rights,” he said. “If an employer treats a Palestinian worker badly, he can now go to the court and complain.”
The Christian population is wary of the Palestinians becoming permanent settlers in Lebanon and wishes to continue pressuring the UN and others to make it possible for the refugees to return to their homes. For this reason, the law does not go as far as others in the region to integrate the Palestinians…
Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leaders in Lebanon have politely welcomed the move as a step forward, but said they will continue to press for more rights – while agreeing absolutely that their ultimate ambition and demand is to return to their homeland.
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Lawrence of Arabia
After a series of events that led to the United States withholding funding for the Lebanese Army — who, incidently, killed the leader of Fatah al-Islam today, which is sure to make the Americans somewhat happy once again — the Defense Minister has opened a bank account into which donors can deposit money to equip the Lebanese Army.
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Lawrence of Arabia
forget volunteer armies…Volunteer Funding.
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Lawrence of Arabia
In Lebanon, an Iranian sponsored television show, portraying the life of Christ and claiming that he was not crucified but was taken into heaven, has been canceled. Christians have protested the show and it has been taken off the air.
In other news, tonight’s showing of the Life of Brian has been preempted and we will be showing reruns of Wajh al-Qamar instead. We thank you for your understanding.
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Lawrence of Arabia
After a clash at the border with Israel and demonstrating the existence of Israeli spies within Lebanon, especially within Hezbollah, Israel has called the Lebanese army treacherous and asked the United States to reconsider monies that it has been sending to strengthen the Lebanese army. Legislators in the United States promptly complied, leading Iran to promise that they would offset the loss. Lebanon has said that the United States should not expect to give money to the army, and then expect the army not to defend itself against Israel.
both sides claim it was a personal dispute gone awry, and that there will be no further violence.