Lebanon doesn't seem to particularly mind this challenge to and erosion of its sovereignty. Hizballebanon Update. "Hezbollah says new government must keep mum about its weapons," from Agence France-Presse, November 11:
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Wednesday to cooperate with Lebanon's new unity government but warned that it should avoid the "big issues," in allusion to his group's weapons.
"Success for this government, its prime minister and ministers will mean success for Lebanon and Hezbollah," Nasrallah said in a televised address to mark Hezbollah's martyrs' day.
"But I call for patience in dealing with the big issues," he added, alluding to demands by the UN Security Council and his local rivals for the disarmament of his Shiite militant group.
"If we start with this now, we are headed straight for problems."
Nasrallah, whose party fought a devastating war with Israel in the summer of 2006, also said he hoped for a "government of national cooperation and accord."
"We do not want a government divided by barricades," he said.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of murdered ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, announced the formation of his new government on Monday, more than four months after his US- and Saudi-backed alliance defeated a Hezbollah-led bloc backed by Syria and Iran in a general election.
The government met for the first time on Tuesday at the president palace, making it clear that it would steer clear of the thorny issue of Hezbollah's weapons.
Hariri's government includes 15 ministers from Hariri's bloc and 10 from the opposition. The remaining five were appointed by President Michel Sleiman.
The major point of contention between the two major camps has been Hezbollah's weapons, which were starkly brought to the forefront in May 2008 when the militant group staged a spectacular takeover of mainly Sunni Muslim west Beirut.
The crisis, sparked by a government crackdown against Hezbollah, left more than 100 people dead and brought the country to the brink of renewed civil war.
The distribution of portfolios in the new government means that neither side will have veto power and that Sleiman will play the role of arbiter.
Nasrallah, whose party has two ministers in the new government, played down the prospects of a new conflict with Israel, dismissing recent Israeli warnings as "psychological warfare."
But he added that Hezbollah remained ready for any eventuality.
"Send all the troops you want," he said. "We will kill all your officers and soldiers."
Hezbollah is the only Lebanese party that refused to surrender its weapons after the country's 1975-1990 civil war. It argues they are necessary to defend Lebanon against Israeli aggression.
Then there's U.N. Resolution 1701, which Hizballah was also allowed to opt out of for all practical purposes (like re-arming).
Nasrallah called on the rival Lebanese blocs' foreign sponsors Iran and Saudi Arabia to work hand in hand on regional issues.
"We call for Saudi-Iranian rapprochement, initiated by either country or any other party," he said.
"These two large, important countries should cooperate," Nasrallah said. "The region is in need of a loyal firefighter."
A what, now?
The 1701 farce is another example of why the UN can't be relied on.
"The region is in need of a loyal firefighter."
i.e. Nasrallah is in need of a giant hose. What a sick man.
this noserellah needs to be room temperature. the UN shows itself as a useless organization and should be downgraded to a meeting of once a year to remind us at how useless they really are.
We're watching a paradigm-in-progress.
The Lebanon war in 2006 and the Gaza war last year were in fact two battles of the same war...and the predictable international response exemplified by the Goldstone farce, is to frighten the Israelis into a limited end-game.
Since the fence closed off the venue of the suicide bomber, the new goal is for limited and episodic rocket attacks on Israel to become normative, an acceptable cost of daily life in the region...and that the Israelis - sensitized by their humanity and the desire to stave off international censure - will confine themselves to a tit-for-tat response. In so doing, Gaza and south Lebanon will endure, self-constructed hell-holes that they already are, but Israelis, who live for something other than aspirations of martyrdom, will find such a state of affairs increasingly untenable, give up on the Zionist dream, and begin to emigrate.
This is the plan.
"Ft. Hood shooting suspect may have wired money to Pakistan":
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/111209dnproshooter.3f20c43.html
"These two large, important countries should cooperate," Nasrallah said. "The region is in need of a loyal firefighter."
Those would be the fires that Hizballah keeps setting?
I dont believe that the majority of Israeli will want to leave with the world ignoring rockets fired by hizboys or hamas. Jews know that this is their land and no other place to feel at home or as well as inside of Israel. my brother and his son visited Israel a year ago last fall. as it seems everywhere taxi drivers are predominately muslim, seems they prefer to sit on the job when not killing. but anyhow some of them gave it five years for when the hizboys, hamas, iran etc will take down Israel. of course when saying this they were seething angry. these islamists do not have much patience when dealing with Israel. the rest of the WEst perhas. l did hear a rather good story on the radio about some Arab Muslim saying out loud that the blaming of Israel was just to hide the failures of the islamic states run by despot dictators and clerics.
I read "loyal firefighter" to mean a dependable particpant in fire fights (i.e., in the coming huge battles against Israel), not a blaze putter-outer.
Nasrallah: "We call for Saudi-Iranian rapprochement, initiated by either country or any other party."
Obama, Beneficent King of Gaia, Scion of Jeremiah Wright, here's your big chance to shine your light on the world! You can be a global peacemaker, ending the ancient rift between the Sunni and Shia, and the only price will be to sacrifice that stubborn and annoying patch of sand called Israel, whose citizens refuse to go quietly into the night. How peaceful the world would be without those Zionist trouble-makers, right?