Iranian Presidential Blog

This is not Lebanese, but is of interest to the region...

Iran's (Persian: ايران‎) President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has started a blog, complete with polls. I'm really interested in politicians using blogs both as a means to share ideas and as a means to remain in touch with the voting public. He includes an autobiography and contually references almighty God. From his writing (note that I'm reading the English translation provided on the blog), he seems a well-educated, deeply spiritual man who has experienced much personal growth in his rise through the ranks of the Iranian political scene. He seems keenly aware of the puppetry of previous regimes, and seems to actively wish to prevent it in his own. We'll have to keep it on the log to keep watch on it for interesting messages.

This goes to show that blogs are increasingly being used as tools by politicians to get the word out to the digitally-connected public.

From Beirut to the Beltway

This blog http://www.beirutbeltway.com/ bridges the issues of Lebanon with US foreign policy. A recent post describes Israeli strategy through the words of members of Israel's gov't:

This is how Israel’s mighty army plans to win the war against Hizbullah:

A senior General Staff officer told Haaretz that for the first time since the fighting began, Israel plans to attack strategic infrastructure targets and symbols of the Lebanese government.

The officer said, "we are now in a process of renewed escalation. We will continue hitting everything that moves in Hezbollah - but we will also hit strategic civilian infrastructure."

Of course, like all quotes, this is likely taken out of context (for instance, what is a "senior General Staff officer" really?). But it is good to know that there are people out there looking into these sorts of issues. I remember when the US hit Zarqawi back on June 7th. There were reports that 5-10 civilians (of the women and children variety) were killed in the airstrike. It's important to know if your gov't considers "hitting everything that moves" as "collateral damage."

Lebanese Crisis / Arabic Translation

Here's a blog where people are talking about the larger picture of the current conflicts in the Middle East: http://blog.itoot.net/archives/lebanese-crisis

I'm finding it an interesting read, though I wish my Arabic were farther along...(as it's pracically non-extant). Luckily there's this tool from Google: http://translate.google.com/translate_t?langpair=ar|en
which translates the Arabic near the top of the page through the link above as:

أنا غضبان ومفقوع ومقهور، لا بل إني أتميّز غضبا.
لقد وصلت الغطرسة الإسرائيلية حد أن تفرض حصارا بريا وبحريا وجويا كاملا على دولة لبنان الدولة العربيّة الحرّة المستقلة لا بل ووصلت درجة أن تطالب لبنان باخلاء الضاحية الجنوبية للعاصمة بيروت ليحلو لها دكّ العاصمة اللبنانية كيفما تشاء.
يا للعنجهية الصهيونية.
I Mafqua Ghadban, and in distress, but I do not Atmez anger. We arrived arrogance of the Israeli imposed blockade the road, maritime and air fully on the State of Lebanon, the Arab State of free independent and even to the extent that the degree of demand of Lebanon to evacuate the southern suburb of the capital Beirut Lehlo have demolished the Lebanese capital as they wish. Oh Llangheh Zionism.

Wow...on my Kubuntu system, when I select Arabic text, I have to select from right-to-left. Go, technology!

Let's get another view of things, eh?

So, I'm sick and fucking tired about being bombarded by the US media, and I don't even have cable!

I can't seem to escape the reach of news entities providing less-than-half the story.

It's time to take my survey to the (cyber-)streets.

The first link: http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/

These people know the story from the inside -- they're Lebanese! We should have insiders on the national scene covering a story, rather than some white dude in a 3-piece fucking suit.

So, follow the link and stop wasting your time reading this gripery.