davidbau.com

An Invoice for Nasrallah

Via Capisho blog.

The western press is reporting on the Hizbollah demonstrations with a distanced air of "unbiased neutrality." Who knows which faction holds the moral high ground? The western-style Sunni/Christian/Druze coalition or the Iranian-backed Shiite/Christian coalition? How dare we evaluate the sides or pass any judgement.

However, it is far from clear that Hizbollah deserves such treatment. Follow along with Amir Irani-Tehrani as he takes a tour of Hizbollah South Lebanon and you will see the vision that Hizbollah has for that small nation. Hizbollah runs their territory like a band of thugs and propagandists. They restrict movement, levy "taxes," and prohibit any dissent from their extreme views.

For Hizbollah, anything that goes wrong is blamed on somebody else. Nasrallah starts a war; but when his neighborhoods get destroyed, it is Sinoria's fault? The economy in his part of Lebanon is in shambles; surely that is due to imperialist oppression of some sort. And gosh, who could have ever murdered Hariri and Gemayel? But our wondering has a limit: if we start to investigate, Hizbollah will demonstrate and riot until the government comes down.

Are these the hallmarks of responsible governance? Is the Hizbollah vision what we wish for the future of the Middle East? These people are nothing more than a very well-funded mafia.

If we are happy to criticize our own politicians in the West with a cold and critical eye, why do we treat Hizbollah with such kid-fingers? Would we really consider voting Hizbollah into our own government? If not, then why do we have such low standards for the Lebanese?

The Lebanese blogging world is far more interesting than the mainstrem press: for example, Raja brings an interesting perspective on how while Lebanon has little to worry about from the protests, other Arab powers are going nuts about it.

Posted by David at December 2, 2006 05:25 AM