LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 22/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16,19-31. There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.' Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.' He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Druze defiance- Interview with Walid Jumblat. By: Ian Black guardian.co.uk. 21/02/08
Will the Mughniyeh affair hit the Arabs? By Michael Young. 21/02/08
Official Syria can admit to corruption, but what will be done about it?-The Daily Star. 21/02/08
'Independent' Kosovo: A threat, not a country. By James George Jatras. 21/02/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 21/08
Jumblat Slams 'Crazy' Ahmadinejad and 'Bloody Butchers'-Naharnet
Moroccan 'Terror' Network Organized Training in Cooperation with Hizbullah-Naharnet
Moussa Returns to Beirut with No Signs of Breakthrough in ...Naharnet
Ashkenazi: Israel May Face Confrontation in Near Future-Naharnet
Aoun: There is No Need for Moussa's Return if Majority Rejects 3 Tens Formula-Naharnet
Hajj Hassan Slams Saniora, Defends Iran-Naharnet
Hariri: Aoun, Berri Promote Syrian Meal That We Won't Eat-Naharnet
UNHCR Welcomes Lebanese Decision to Regularize Iraqi Refugee Status-Naharnet
Lebanese Arm Themselves for Fear of Civil War-Naharnet
Al-Faisal Urges 'Influential' Parties to Facilitate Lebanon's Settlement-Naharnet
Moussa's Scout Man Arrives in Beirut-Naharnet
Hassan Khalil Attacks Hariri-Naharnet
Dead Mughniyeh Sparks Discord in Kuwait-Naharnet
Saniora: Civil War Not Likely-Naharnet
Ahmadinejad Attacks 'Savage Animal' Israel Over Mughniyeh's Murder-Naharnet
Lebanon's Awakened Nightmares-Naharnet
Small Quake Hits South Lebanon-Naharnet
Hariri: Aoun, Berri Promote Syrian Meal That We Won't Eat-Naharnet
Al-Faisal Urges 'Influential' Parties to facilitate Lebanon's Settlement-Naharnet
Moussa's Scout Man arrives in Beirut-Naharnet
Hassan Khalil Attacks Hariri-Naharnet
Dead Mughniyeh Sparks Discord in Kuwait-Naharnet
Berri Hints Solution in the Offing, Says 10+10+10 Formula Could be Adopted-Naharnet
Saniora: Civil War Not Likely-Naharnet
Kuwaiti MPs under fire over Mughniyeh commemoration-AFP
Moussa getting nowhere - Saudi foreign minister-Daily Star
Analysts: Solution to Lebanon's crisis tied up in tug-of-war between US, Iran-Daily Star
LOG head: 'Open war' is for others-Daily Star
Sison condemns strategy to 'change face of the Lebanon-Daily Star
ISF chief: Consensus key to restoring security-Daily Star
Lebanese farmers threaten protests over trade rules-Daily Star
Egyptian gas - at last - for Lebanon?-Daily Star
Douse 'fiery' talk - Union for Lebanon-Daily Star
Aftershock rumbles through South-Daily Star
UNIFIL's Indian veterinarian employs 'healing touch' to foster peace in South-AFP
Environmentalist slams Sidon municipality for dump collapse-Daily Star

Moroccan 'Terror' Network Organized Training in Cooperation with Hizbullah
Naharnet/An al-Qaida linked group broken up in Morocco this week planned to assassinate government officials and had carried out crimes internationally, Morocco's interior minister said. Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa's comments came as Moroccan authorities on Wednesday banned a small Islamist party over its alleged ties to the al-Qaida linked group. The network, allegedly headed by Abdelkader Belliraj, planned to assassinate Moroccan ministers, military members and Jewish citizens, Benmoussa said. It also had links with an organization called the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Algeria, which has become al-Qaida's North African branch, the minister said.
According to Benmoussa, the network had contacts with al-Qaida in Afghanistan in 2001.
"The Belliraj terrorist network planned to carry out terrorist attacks with the help of firearms and explosives, and to assassinate high-profile Moroccan figures," he said. It also sought to organize training in cooperation with Hizbullah in Lebanon in 2005, Benmoussa said, and some members of the network had access to training in manufacturing explosives. Benmoussa added that Belliraj had allegedly committed six murders in Belgium between 1986 and 1989.
The party banned on Wednesday was the Al Badil Al Hadari. Its leader, Mustapha Moatassim, had already been arrested on Monday as part of a sweep this week that resulted in the arrests of 32 people. Fassi said in a statement the decision to ban the party, which means Alternative Civilization, was taken "on account of the proven links between the (dismantled) network and the creation of this party."
According to a security source, a large consignment of weapons had also been found, which had been financed by hold-ups abroad -- notably a heist at a security firm in Luxembourg in 2000. The arsenal included nine Kalashnikov assault rifles, two machine-guns with six magazines and a silencer, seven sub-machine guns, 16 automatic pistols and various munitions and detonators. Members of the alleged network smuggled 30 million dirhams (2.7 million euros) into Morocco in 2001 following a robbery at the headquarters of the Brinks Company in Luxembourg, according to the same source. The money was laundered by the network by investments in tourism projects, real estate and businesses across Morocco. Jewelry stolen in Belgium was smuggled into Morocco and turned into ingots by a goldsmith, who had also been arrested, according to the source. The 32 people detained so far include a police officer and a journalist, as well as Moatassim.
The Moroccan journalist, Abdelhafid Sriti, is the Rabat correspondent of the Hizbullah television station al-Manar.Three Moroccans resident in Belgium, including suspected leader Belliraj, are among those indicted. The arrests of some reputedly moderate Islamists have sparked astonishment in Morocco, according to local newspapers. Following a suicide attack in Casablanca in May 2003 that left 45 dead, Morocco adopted a new law aimed at tackling extremist movements.
But the independent Le Soir paper noted it was the first time since then that leaders of Islamist parties had been arrested for suspected terrorist links in Morocco.
Two further bomb attacks in Casablanca followed in 2007, whilst there was an attempted suicide attack against foreign tourists in Meknes, east of Rabat, in August last year.(AFP) Beirut, 21 Feb 08, 10:14

UNHCR Welcomes Lebanese Decision to Regularize Iraqi Refugee Status
Naharnet/The U.N. refugee agency has welcomed a decision by Lebanese authorities to regularize the status of hundreds of Iraqi refugees considered illegal in the country. The government started this week to give Iraqis who entered Lebanon illegally or overstayed their visas a three month period to legalize their status.
An announcement posted on the Web site of the General Security Department urged Arab and foreign nationals whose residency contradicts the law or who entered the country illegally to visit the department's offices to resolve their situation. It also said they would be granted a year's stay or ordered to leave the country.
UNHCR said that this decision would benefit thousands of Iraqi refugees in Lebanon and would lead to the release of hundreds from detention.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the refugee group said it will support the release process and provide assistance to those released from detention and to their families, as well as provide legal aid to Iraqis who wish to meet the regularization requirements. "The Lebanese decision benefiting Iraqi refugees is of particular significance given that it has been taken during a time when the country has been facing political turmoil and volatile security. This is a courageous decision," said Stephane Jaquemet, the UNHCR representative in Lebanon. Jaquemet added that UNHCR's priority over the next few months will be to assist the detainees upon release. "After several months of detention, many of them will be destitute," he said. Unlike other Arab countries, Lebanon has adopted a policy of arresting Iraqis who are in the country illegally. Often they are kept jailed beyond their original sentences until they agree to return home. About 77 percent of the roughly 50,000 Iraqis in Lebanon have entered the country illegally, the Danish Refugee Council estimated in a survey late last month.(AP) Beirut, 21 Feb 08, 09:23

Aoun: There is No Need for Moussa's Return if Majority Rejects 3 Tens Formula
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun said there was no need for the return of Arab League chief Amr Moussa given the majority's rejection of a Hizbullah demand that the opposition be granted a third of the seats in a new 30-member government so as to have veto power over key decisions.
"The three tens (formula) is very important to us. If they (March 14 alliance) don't want the three tens … we believe giving it up is a concession," Aoun told Hizbullah's al-Manar TV on Wednesday. "The one-third (formula) calls for power to be equally distributed among the three forces. They (March 14) have prevented giving the President that majority so we would be stripped of the one-third-plus-one power," Aoun explained.
"This also requires guarantees," Aoun insisted. Addressing March 14, Aoun said: "They should understand before going to the Feb. 24 talks that if they didn't take this issue into consideration there is no need for them to come," he went on. "We want guarantees that we will be authoritative in decision making on key issues," Aoun stressed. "This is a major demand for any settlement." "If they are not willing to give such guarantees, it is better for them not to come (to the meeting)," Aoun added. Beirut, 21 Feb 08, 11:25

Moussa Returns to Beirut with No Signs of Breakthrough in Political Crisis
Naharnet/Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is expected to return to Beirut on Friday with no signs of a breakthrough in the 15-month-old political crisis.
As Moussa prepared for his trip, his assistant Hisham Youssef arrived in Beirut on Wednesday to pave the way for the return of the Arab League chief.
Youssef met separately with Mustaqbal Movement executive Nader Hariri as well as opposition MPs Hussein Khalil, Jibran Bassil and Ali Hassan Khalil.
Youssef said Moussa's return depends on the success of his own preliminary talks. Moussa was expected to hold on Sunday a quartet meeting grouping Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, former President Amin Gemayel and Free Patriotic Movement chief Gen. Michel Aoun.
But Hariri on Wednesday slammed as a "Syrian inspired recipe" a proposal by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for a tripartite distribution of equal shares in a new national unity cabinet. Hariri, in a statement distributed by his press office, said backstage contacts have not resulted in a compromise.
"Aoun insists on getting veto power in the next cabinet, while Speaker Nabih Berri is promoting the 10+10+10 (formula)," Hariri said.
"Such formula was actually made in Syria," he added. Aoun, in turn, said that there was no need for Moussa's return given Hariri's objection to the three tens.
In another sign of a hardening stance, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea vowed that the pro-government March 14 alliance will not make concessions following the Feb. 14 rally. "We are waiting for Moussa's return…hoping that he would have more luck this time in convincing the other party to head to parliament on Tuesday and elect a new president," Geagea said. Berri, for his part, insisted to move forward with the 10+10+10 formula and head to Parliament Tuesday to elect a head of state. Ali Hamdan, Berri's media adviser, told The Daily Star that the speaker's position has not changed regarding the three tens formula.
Hamdan claimed that the formula was initially proposed by Hariri, but "unfortunately, Hariri did not commit to his own proposal."
"Hariri is arguing that Aoun wants veto power, while Berri backs the 'three tens' formula," Hamdan said. "But Berri has clearly said he is ready to move forward with the three tens." Hariri's adviser Hani Hammoud told The Daily Star that the Mustaqbal leader had proposed the 10+10+10 formula in an effort to "test" the opposition's seriousness and willingness to reach a solution. "Hariri even went on to propose giving the opposition veto power, but the opposition asked for more than that and went on to negotiate the name of the next prime minister and the distribution of cabinet portfolios," Hammoud said. But sources close to Moussa told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Thursday that the Arab League chief was optimistic about his Beirut trip. They said Moussa has "big hope" in trying to reach a settlement regarding a cabinet formula accepted by both sides. Beirut, 21 Feb 08, 08:46

Jumblat Slams 'Crazy' Ahmadinejad and 'Bloody Butchers'
Naharnet/Druze leader Walid Jumblat has told a British daily that Damascus viewed Lebanon as just a province of Syria and that "crazy" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was trying to establish a Hizbullah state in the country. "For Syria, Lebanon is just a province, part of Syria. As for the crazy Iranian Ahmadinejad, Lebanon is a platform to be used against the Israelis and the Americans and he is trying slowly but surely to establish his Hizbullah state in Lebanon. Lebanon is paralyzed ... we won't have stability and peace in Lebanon as long as these bloody butchers are there," Jumblat told The Guardian newspaper in remarks published Thursday. He said that Hizbullah had helped the Assad regime to carry out assassinations, attempted killings and bombings in Lebanon since Oct. 2004. "Hizbullah has a formidable security infrastructure and the Syrians couldn't have done all their bloody murders without the facilities offered by Hizbullah and other allies of Syria," he insisted. "All the people who were killed were opponents of the Syrian regime and key figures in the military."
He accused Hizbullah of following Iran's and Syria's orders to paralyze Lebanese life. "We have a party that is run by remote control by the Iranians and the Syrians, that is very well armed and trained and is paralyzing the whole of life and is not willing to accept the rule of the Lebanese state," Jumblat told the Guardian.
"They are part of the parliament but they want to impose their will to declare war and peace whenever they feel like it. They are using Lebanon as a platform for their own advantage," he said. President Bashar Assad, Jumblat charged, would "do anything" to sabotage the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that would try suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination and related crimes. The Progressive Socialist Party leader also said the Assad regime was allowing Hizbullah to smuggle rockets into Lebanon. "Lebanon is in an existential crisis," Jumblat concluded. "Either we survive as an independent state and a democracy or we disappear under the killings of the Syrians and the Iranians and their allies. Up to now I've been able to survive, but at a price." Beirut, 21 Feb 08, 12:19

Will the Mughniyeh affair hit the Arabs?
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Syria has vowed to soon release the results of its inquiry into the assassination of Hizbullah official Imad Mughniyeh. However, there is increasing likelihood that the findings, rather than explain what happened, will become a weapon in the regional struggle between Syria, Iran and their Lebanese allies on the one hand, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan to a lesser extent, and the March 14 coalition on the other.
In the past week since Mughniyeh's funeral, unidentified sources in Beirut and Damascus have been feverishly spinning media coverage of the killing. The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hizbullah, was the first to identify an Arab angle in the Mughniyeh affair, quoting someone as saying that among those arrested by the Syrian authorities were "non-civilian elements of Arab nationality." Syria's daily Al-Watan, which is owned by the powerful cousin of President Bashar Assad, Rami Makhlouf, also cited a source as mentioning an Arab connection.
In the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai Al-Aam, a source close to Hizbullah was quoted as saying that the Mughniyeh hit was "Palestinian-Israeli," using American technology and financed by an unidentified Gulf Arab official. Another Kuwaiti daily, Al-Siyassa, which is hostile to Damascus, wrote that Mughniyeh had been residing in an apartment building belonging to a business partner of Makhlouf - in effect linking the late Hizbullah official to people at the heart of Syria's political and economic elite. Perhaps most disturbing for what may lie ahead, however, was a report in Al-Haqiqa, the publication of Nizar Nayouf, a Syrian opposition figure. Nayouf was for years brutalized by Syria's regime, before moving to France. However, most observers of Syrian affairs believe his publication is often used by the Assad regime as a conduit for disinformation, or for sending political messages. According to a Syrian source cited by Al-Haqiqa, the Mughniyeh investigation may accuse "official or semi-official Lebanese parties ... allied with [the government]" of having participated in the Mughniyeh operation. The paper suggested investigators might also identify Walid Jumblatt, or more specifically his alleged security chief, Hisham Nasreddine, as having played a role in the killing.
The "official or semi-official" parties the source refers to is almost certainly the Information Department of the Internal Security Forces - essentially the state security apparatus most loyal to March 14. A key objective of Syria and the opposition in the negotiations over a new government has been to ensure that the Interior Ministry, which oversees the Information Department, is taken out of the hands of the parliamentary majority. If the information in Al-Haqiqa becomes the basis of an official Syrian charge, the aim may be to advance this agenda. As for Jumblatt, no one will seriously believe the Druze leader has the capacity to eliminate so secretive as figure as Mughniyeh. However, if the Syrians do level such an accusation, it may exacerbate tension on the ground between Jumblatt's supporters and Hizbullah, without the latter being able to express doubt in the Syrian conclusions. The party has little margin of maneuver vis-a-vis Damascus, and Iran has reportedly indicated it wants no quarrel with the Assad regime over Mughniyeh. Hizbullah has blamed Israel for the assassination, but its secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has also described March 14 as having sided with Israel. If the Syrians play on that theme, Nasrallah may find himself tossed back into the unforgiving alleyways of inter-Lebanese conflict. The deepening animosity between Syria and Saudi Arabia might mean the Mughniyeh investigation is carried even further to implicate some Arab states. The fear is that Syria would do such a thing to gain leverage and force leading Arab heads to state to attend the Arab League summit scheduled for late March in Damascus, therefore guaranteeing that the event will be a success. The only problem is that the absence of a prior solution in Lebanon will almost certainly mean a failed summit. Assad will probably not bring the Saudis or anyone else to his gathering through intimidation, let alone through a politicized investigation.
Where would Hizbullah stand on this? One message in the Mughniyeh assassination was that while the party was stuck in the viper's nest of Lebanese politics, someone, probably Israel, scored a devastating goal against it. Nasrallah has always tried to keep domestic Lebanese affairs separate from the conflict with Israel, to protect his military autonomy. Whenever the two were somehow mixed, Hizbullah lost ground, most notably after the 2006 summer war, which many Lebanese viewed as unnecessary. That's why Nasrallah cannot find it especially desirable to watch Syria twist the Mughniyeh affair into a new basis for Lebanese strife.
The same holds for Syria's conflict with major Arab states. At a time when Iran is improving its relations with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, there is little real advantage to Hizbullah in seeing Damascus manipulate Mughniyeh's death to score points in its dispute with Riyadh and Cairo. All that would prove, again, is that Hizbullah is cannon fodder for the Assad regime, a reality that has already damaged Hizbullah's reputation inside Lebanon. Nasrallah has always tried to position Hizbullah as an Arab nationalist organization waging a regional struggle in Lebanon and Palestine. Being used as a stick against the Arab states would only lead to its being demoted to the status of sectarian Shiite group threatening Arab interests.
Recent events have shown that Hizbullah, even though many publicists will dutifully underline its independence from Syria and Iran, is in fact mostly a prisoner of Iranian and Syrian priorities. The Mughniyeh investigation will be an opportunity to test this proposition once more. Perhaps this time Hizbullah will manage to avoid becoming another utensil in regional Arab antagonism that is bound to get worse.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.

Ashkenazi: Israel May Face Confrontation in Near Future
Naharnet/Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Israel may face a confrontation in the near future. "I cannot promise we will not find ourselves facing a difficult trial in the near future," Ashkenazi said on Wednesday at a ceremony for cadets graduating from the officers' training course. "Our hands are outstretched in peace, but they are also ready for battle," Ynet News quoted Ashkenazi as saying. It said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in turn, said that "even when many of the young officers here today enlisted after the echoes of the war fell silent, I know without a shadow of a doubt that if we are once again called on to face another conflict in that region or any other, you will embody the noble and tangible essence of the spirit of the IDF and serve as Israel's defensive shield. "We have learned much from the Second Lebanon War. For the past year-and-a-half now we have been moving forward with a process that at its core aims to change and improve the decision making process and security assessments made on the national and political levels."Olmert said that even the officers' training course had been modified following the 2006 summer war with Hizbullah, Ynet News said on its website. "We are investing unprecedented resources to allow the IDF to train more, to prepare itself and provide its soldiers with the best possible training on every command level to face any scenario," he said. "In its 60th year the State of Israel, is a strong nation with a powerful military and a level of deterrence known well to all those who need to know it," said Olmert. "We are confident in ourselves and in our might, we march ahead down a road of peace and security," Ynet News quoted Olmert as saying.
Beirut, 21 Feb 08, 09:40

Druze defiance
Ian Black meets Walid Junblatt, Lebanon's outspoken Druze chieftain, and finds him unconcerned about the dangers of attacking Syria
Ian Black guardian.co.uk, Thursday February 21 2008
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If you're planning to visit Walid Junblatt, it's best to make sure you're not in too much of a hurry. And if you're not in a hurry, wait until the weekend and arrange to call on the Lebanese Druze leader in his ancestral home at Mukhtara, deep in the Shouf mountains south of Beirut.
Junblatt is one of the great survivors of Lebanon's turbulent and political life, a traditional "za'im" or hereditary chieftain of perhaps the most colourful of the country's 18 sects. Now aged 58, he is a key member of the western-backed, Sunni-Christian-Druze government headed by Fuad Siniora. He is also an unrelenting critic of Syria, whose humiliating withdrawal from Lebanon he applauded after the cedar revolution three years ago - and who he continues to attack at every opportunity.
Taken that no less than 21 Lebanese politicians, journalists and soldiers who were considered enemies of Damascus have been murdered since the best-known victim - the former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in February 2005 - Junblatt risks his life whenever he opens his mouth on the matter, which is most days.
The security arrangements at Mukhtara, a honey-coloured 18th century mansion with a mountain spring gushing pastorally beneath it, are a sobering reminder of the dangers he faces. Visitors must pass machine gun-toting guards, metal detectors and body searches before ascending a stone stairway to a huge front door.
Fear of sudden death goes with the territory and the heritage. Junblatt's father, the famously ascetic socialist Kamal, was assassinated, almost certainly by Syrian agents, in 1977. Kamal's father was also murdered. "A Junblatt never dies in his bed," he used to quip. Not for nothing has Walid been described as a "dead man walking." He survived an assassination attempt in 1982 after the Israeli invasion. His son Taymur is studying abroad, out of harm's way.
On a recent Saturday morning, Junblatt sat in his diwan, or reception room with Oscar, his pet Shar Pei, snapping at his heels, and received visitors asking for favours or advice - or simply paying homage. Many, with the Druzes' trademark bristling moustaches and white knitted skullcaps, stood chatting by the fountain in the courtyard before seeing Walid Beg - the honorific title, equivalent to the English "lord", dates back to Ottoman times, the very model of a modern feudal leader.
Huddled over a stove by the window overlooking the snow-covered hills, Junblatt — bald, wiry and with bulging eyes — was leafing through copies of the New Yorker and a collection of essays by Susan Sontag, confirming his reputation as an intellectual with a wide range of interests – and talking all the while in Arabic, English and French. His less refined side is reflected in a collection of Soviet-era medals and uniforms and a small arsenal of machine guns and hunting rifles. There are several automatic pistols in reach of his laptop in his private rooms.
Friends in Beirut had warned me Junblatt was busy, and what passed for an interview over a cup of bitter coffee was hurried - but it still gave a strong sense of the man and the leader at a time of mounting tensions in Lebanon. With the anniversary of the Hariri assassination coinciding with continued deadlock over the election of a new president, and the lack of a functioning parliament, the sense is that the country is facing its worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.
Just four days after our meeting, tensions soared with the assassination in Damascus of Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah's military chief. That was followed by a mass funeral rally in Beirut's southern suburbs where the Shia organisation's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, pledged "open war" with Israel - widely assumed despite its denial to be behind the killing.
Hizbullah was certainly uppermost in Junblatt's thoughts - and sights - when we met. "We have a party that is run by remote control by the Iranians and the Syrians, that is very well armed and trained and is paralysing the whole of life and is not willing to accept the rule of the Lebanese state," was his blunt opening gambit. "They are part of the parliament but they want to impose their will to declare war and peace whenever they feel like it. They are using Lebanon as a platform for their own advantage."Junblatt's strongest sentiments were reserved for Syria, his ally after the Israeli invasion in 1982 and the subsequent peace agreement between Amin Gemayel, Lebanon's Christian president, and Israel. Druze PSP fighters went to war, along with all the other militias. His choice, he insists, was between the sea, Israel and Syria - a no-brainer for any Arab nationalist. But his disenchantment with Damascus deepened to breaking point after 2000, when Israel finally withdrew its troops across the international border while the Syrian army and intelligence agencies stayed firmly put.
President Bashar al-Assad, Junblatt charged, would "do anything" to sabotage the UN tribunal investigating the Hariri killing, and was allowing Hizbullah to smuggle rockets into Lebanon - its arsenal reportedly fully replenished since the 2006 war with Israel. "Hizbullah has a formidable security infrastructure and the Syrians couldn't have done all their bloody murders without the facilities offered by Hizbullah and other allies of Syria," he insisted. "All the people who were killed were opponents of the Syrian regime and key figures in the military.
"For Syria, Lebanon is just a province, part of Syria. As for the crazy Iranian [president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, Lebanon is a platform to be used against the Israelis and the Americans and he is trying slowly but surely to establish his Hizbullah state in Lebanon. Lebanon is paralysed ... we won't have stability and peace in Lebanon as long as these bloody butchers are there. It's a long story."Junblatt' language is strong and provocative, but clearly deliberate: the following day he went public with a stark warning to Hizbullah. "You want anarchy? We welcome anarchy. You want war? We welcome war."
The Druze leader is as fatalistic as he is fluent, preferring to discuss books than his country's tangled and perhaps insoluble political problems. Had I read Gunter Grass's Peeling the Onion, he asked eagerly, or the latest Jose Saramago? "It's better to read literature and get away from Hizbullah and the others," he smiled mournfully. "Lebanon is in an existential crisis," Junblatt concluded. "Either we survive as an independent state and a democracy or we disappear under the killings of the Syrians and the Iranians and their allies. Up to now I've been able to survive, but at a price."

'Independent' Kosovo: A threat, not a country
Posted: February 20, 2008
© 2008
By James George Jatras
Abraham Lincoln was fond of asking the rhetorical question: "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Five? No, calling a tail a leg don't make it a leg." That pretty much sums up the recent unilateral declaration of independence by Albanian Muslims in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Several countries, disgracefully led by the United States, have recognized Kosovo. Major media have hailed creation of the "world's newest country." But calling Kosovo a country doesn't make it one. Serbia has denounced the move as the illegal creation of a "separatist entity" on its sovereign territory and has handed down criminal indictments against several of the top Albanian Muslim leaders. Now under way is a sharp global competition to see which governments will recognize Kosovo and which will not. Under heavy pressure from the U.S. State Department, most European countries will meekly comply. Some, like Cyprus with its Turkish-occupied north and Spain with its Basque separatist movement, will not.
In short, an action State Department bureaucrats touted as "settling Kosovo's status" has resulted in anything but. Outside of Europe, the picture is even fuzzier. Russia will reject Kosovo's independence, and expected to take the same line are China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil and many others. Russia will veto any effort to extend Kosovo membership in the United Nations.
Any sovereign state with restive ethnic or religious minorities would recognize Kosovo at its own peril. What Washington seeks to inflict on Serbia today could be the fate of the American southwest tomorrow. Israel, in particular, is closely pondering its next move. While loath to anger Washington, Jerusalem must consider that a Kosovo precedent could, absent any negotiated agreement, prompt proclamation of a Palestinian state, to be recognized by Arab and Muslim regimes. The same precedent could apply to heavily Muslim areas such as Galilee and the Negev within Israel's formal borders.
At a special press briefing, outgoing Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns – who is often mentioned as a possible secretary of state under a Democratic administration – hailed support for Kosovo from the Organization of the Islamic Conference and Muslim governments. Happily claiming that a "vastly majority Muslim state" has been carved out of Serbia, a European Christian country, Burns said: "We think it is a very positive step that this Muslim state, Muslim majority state, has been created today."
Burns' remarks reflect a desperate hope by the Bush administration that displays of American pro-Islamic favoritism in the Balkans and support for a Palestinian state (its domination by Hamas notwithstanding) will buy the good will of hostile devotees of the "religion of peace and tolerance." Their gratitude is manifest in the jihad terror plot to attack Fort Dix, N.J., where four of the six defendants are Albanian Muslims from the Kosovo region. The offenders' presence in the United States – three of them illegal aliens and one brought to the U.S. by the Clinton administration as a refugee, another example of "gratitude" – stems from the fact that a broadly based support network for the terrorist "Kosovo Liberation Army," KLA, has been allowed to operate with impunity in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania area, raising funds and collecting weapons, not to mention peddling influence with American politicians.
Meanwhile, Christian Serbs in Kosovo are bracing for the worst. "We are all expecting something difficult and horrible," said Bishop Artemije, pastor of Kosovo's Orthodox Christians. "Our message to you, all Serbs in Kosovo, is to remain in your homes and around your monasteries, regardless of what God allows or our enemies do."
The bishop's flock has good reason to fear. Far from the usual claims that NATO stopped a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo in 1999, the past nine years have seen a slow-motion genocide in progress against the province's Christian Serbian population under the nose of the U.N. and NATO, and at times with their facilitation. Two-thirds of the Serbian population already has been expelled and have not been able to return safely to their homes, along with similar proportions of other groups (Roma, Gorani, Croats and all the Jews). Over 150 churches and monasteries have been destroyed, with crosses and icons of Christ attracting particular vandalistic rage, a testament to Kosovo Albanians' supposed secularism and pro-Western orientation.
Hundreds of new Saudi-funded mosques fomenting the extreme Wahhabi doctrine have sprung up. Kosovo is visibly morphing from part of Europe into part of the Middle East. In contrast to Under Secretary Burns' cheerleading, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton has warned: "Kosovo will be a weak state susceptible to radical Islamist influence from outside the region, with the support from some Albanians, in other words, a potential gate for radicalism to enter Europe." If allowed to consolidate, an independent Kosovo would become a way station toward an anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Christian "Eurabia."
Around the world, jihad terror usually goes hand-in-hand with organized crime. Kosovo is the perfect case in point. The supposed authorities of the would-be state are themselves kingpins in the Albanians Mafia, whose network extends throughout Europe and has a significant presence in New York City. Besides all the international aid dumped down the Kosovo rat hole, or carted off by corrupt officials, the only real "industry" is crime: drugs (heroin from Afghan opium), slaves (kidnapped women and children from Moldova, Ukraine and other countries brought in for local "service" – there are lot of lonely international bureaucrats in Kosovo – or shipped off into Europe), and weapons (the missile that hit the U.S. Embassy in Athens in 2006 and the explosives used in the London and Madrid train bombings came through Kosovo).
What will happen now in Kosovo? It would be up to the KLA and their supporters to decide whether to kick off a new cycle of violence by attacking Serbs who refuse to submit to their "authority." Serbia in fact has been beefing up its legitimate state institutions in areas where Serbs are concentrated, which the Albanians have threatened to shut down as – believe it or not – illegal separatist structures. We will see if the political violence unleashed by the act of recognition will be matched by physical violence on the ground. Meanwhile, Serbia will undertake undisclosed countermeasures to undermine the illegally declared KLA- and Mafia-ruled entity and force resumption of negotiations to achieve a valid settlement. Let us hope they succeed.
With a stoke of his pen, President Bush, by heeding the State Department's bad advice to recognize a supposedly independent Kosovo, has triggered the perfect international storm: shattering the principle of the territorial integrity of sovereign nations, encouraging violent separatists worldwide, provoking a needless confrontation with Russia and other countries, boosting the jihad terrorist and organized crime threat to Europe and America, and creating conditions for a human rights and religious freedom nightmare. In terms of far-reaching consequences, it may the worst blunder of his presidency. Which is saying a lot.