His wonderful, vivid artworks frequently accompany our posts but this striking one is the post.  Another terrific creation. Thanks, Ben.

Franklin Lamb
Tent City, Beirut

“The agreement was not ideal for either party and I hope that it will serve as a launch pad for decent relations between the majority and the opposition. We will tackle the other issues in Beirut and there is no need to fear anything”.

— MP Michel Aoun, Hezbollah ally and leader of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) following this morning’s Doha agreement

Lebanon will have General Michel Suleiman [pictured] as its new President, possibly within hours. But no later than Sunday May 25, in order to allow time for the international community to send representatives.

Suleiman had appeared to be closer to the government coalition when he was first nominated but he was recently criticized as being too close to the opposition when his troops did not intervene when gun battles broke out between the warring sides this month.

Some say events make the man. Others the obverse. Suleiman could be a much needed, honest, strong, independent leader that will endear him to Lebanon and the Arab cause and Nation. Read the rest of this entry »

Roni Ben Efrat illuminates inequality in today’s Israel in the current edition of Challenge Magazine (Issue 109). The following is an excerpt in which boldface emphasis is editorial:

Zionists claim that Israel arose in order to provide the Jewish people with a national home. But decade by decade, it has become ever clearer that Israel is not a state of, by and for the Jewish people. It is rather a state of, by and for a sprinkling of families, 19 in all, whose income amounts to $70 billion—88% of the national budget.

This budget is a stumbling block to the poor. All levels of education have been devastated. On the books there is universal health care, but many can’t afford to buy medicines. Israel’s socio-economic inequality, as measured by the UN Development Program’s Gini Index (0.0 = perfect equality), has worsened steadily from 0.222 in 1982 to 0.392 in 2005, making it the most unequal of Western democracies with one exception: the United States (Gini = 0.408). Read the rest of this entry »

You have seen his excellent articles, did you know about Franklin Lamb’s books? Last week I received a copy of Israel’s War in Lebanon (South End Press, 1984), which I am keen to read and will post a review here at some point. Coming across his earlier work is like only just discovering the past work of your favourite music band and working back chronologically and finding real treasures. The book, edited by Franklin, features a foreword by Seán MacBride, the IRA Irish statesman who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974.

Just before I take a blogging break, and prompted by a friend who commented that there was a dearth of information about Dr Franklin Lamb on the web, I thought I would point interested readers who wanted to learn more to Dr Lamb’s books, and can tell you that his forthcoming volume on Hezbollah is coming out in a matter of months. It should be most interesting particularly given recent events, and I understand it has been deliberately delayed for this purpose.

Franklin Lamb’s current book, The price we pay: a quarter-century of Israel’s use of American weapons against civilians in Lebanon (1978-2006), available from Amazon.co.uk and from US-based supplier LebanonBooks.com, has just been translated into Arabic. It is a thorough and indispensable account on the subject, and I will also endeavour to post a review.

WHO IS FRANKLIN LAMB?

It seems my dear friend and site contributor has excited a lot of interest in the webosphere since his dispatches have appeared across various alternative press sites. ‘Who is Franklin Lamb’ posts are sometimes in my page referrals, such as here and here. The comments thread on one of Franklin’s pieces posted at Tom Feeley’s Information Clearing House went ga-ga with anonymous trolls speculating about Franklin. Read the rest of this entry »

Palestinians mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba with, among other things, large symbolic keys and black balloons over Al Quds-Jerusalem.

This video clip comes from our good friends over at the great Italian Guerrilla Radio site (4.36)

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation also has this striking poster and terrific advertisement (click on thumbnail for larger image).

The Campaign will be placing more than 1,000 of these posters on the streets of Manhattan, educating New Yorkers about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

One of the most valuable things you can do for yourself if you are a news-junkie and political animal is to subscribe to one or another of the social bookmarking sites to collect all your article links in one place. Clipmarks has a good community and service going, as do other bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, Newsvine etc. I encourage students to develop annotated bibliographies and these are a good way of doing so, allowing comment on any resource that is found online, and allowing them also to be shared if desired.

Below are striking passages from four recent finds, among many collected at Del.icio.us. Meanwhile, this blog will be on hiatus for a few weeks in order to concentrate on various projects and will resume in due course at a later, as yet undetermined, date (now that’s specific, worthy of Sir Humphrey “In the fullness of time” Appleby in the incomparable UK Yes Minister series. Note to US and other readers: its quite funny and though set in the 1980s, has timeless and universal political-bureaucratic themes). Do check out some of the very fine blogs listed in the blogroll in the meantime, and Dr Franklin Lamb’s excellent postings can also be found at Counterpunch and other good alternative press sites. Read the rest of this entry »

An unlikely-sounding film release — an animation about a massacre detailed from one who was on the side of the co-perpetrators — has been getting attention in Cannes. Waltz With Bashir is about the struggle of the filmmaker and former IDF soldier, Ari Folman, to come to terms with the gaps in his memory surrounding the part he played in the first Lebanese war and the 1982 massacre of thousands of unarmed Palestinian civilians in the West Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

Folman asserts that this is a personal rather than political film, but hopes to convey that “war is useless”.

Waltz With Bashir Trailer 1m45s

Read the rest of this entry »

NB Just in (18 May) see also this subsequent Israeli intel connected DEBKAfile piece Israel’s Missed Boat in Lebanon:

Sunday night, May 11, the Israeli army was poised to strike Hizballah. The Shiite militia was winding up its takeover of West Beirut and battling pro-government forces in the North. When he opened the regular cabinet meeting Sunday, May 11, prime minister Ehud Olmert had already received the go-ahead from Washington for a military strike to halt the Hizballah advance. The message said that President George W. Bush would not call off his visit to Israel to attend its 60th anniversary celebrations and would arrive as planned Wednesday, May 14 - even if the Israeli army was still fighting in Lebanon and Hizballah struck back against Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion airport. Read rest HERE

Franklin Lamb
Beirut

This week Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief Major General Amos Yadlin complained to the Israeli daily Haaretz that “Hezbollah proved that it was the strongest power in Lebanon… stronger than the Lebanese and if it had wanted to take the government it could have done it.” He said Hezbollah continued to pose a “significant” threat to Israel as its rockets could reach a large part of Israeli territory.

Yadlin was putting it mildly.

But what Intelligence Chief Yadlin did not reveal to the Israeli public was just how “significant” but also “immediate” the Hezbollah threat was on May 11. Nor was he willing to divulge the fact that he received information via US and French channels that if the planned attack on Lebanon’s capital went forward, that in the view of the US intelligence community Tel Aviv would be subject to “approximately 600 Hezbollah rockets in the first 24 hours in retaliation and at least that number on the following day”. Read the rest of this entry »

Appended below are five links to poignant short videos from the excellent Guardian series A Week in Gaza, detailing the impact of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Ghetto on ordinary people. On this 60th anniversary of the Nakba, these heart-rending portraits of Gazans is particularly timely and offers a window into life in Gaza.

As Ali Abunimah, currently in Sydney, has said, Nakba Denial not only exists, but unlike Holocaust Denial still has some mainstream intellectual acceptance. The ongoing plight of the indigenous Palestinians after 60 years deserves our attention and support now more than ever. For our part in Australia, there is a strong campaign to have the Australian Parliament acknowledge the Nakba — please consider lending your support if you are in Australia.

1. The blockade and the smugglers (4.55)
Israel’s fuel blockade has ground Gaza’s infrastructure to a halt. In response, smuggling gangs bring fuel in from Egypt through underground tunnels. Read the rest of this entry »

As the Siniora government today officially rescinds the two incriminating decisions about Hezbollah’s telecommunications network and the head of security of Beirut’s airport that sparked this month’s clashes, this Briefing on Beirut seminar at the New America Foundation takes stock of recent events.

Audio

See also video of the event below/ over the fold

Rami Khouri (pictured) is always worth listening to; he asks whether Beirut will follow Baghdad or Belfast and is optimistic that the Lebanese will move past the internal strife at this “historical moment of reckoning” to form a pluralistic society that can integrate Western and Arab ideals. Hisham Melhem represents the March 14-Hariri Inc view on Hezbollah’s intentions and is less optimistic, overstating Iran’s influence on Hezbollah. Nir Rosen (over)draws comparisons to Iraq on the Sunni-Shi’a conflict. Read the rest of this entry »

Street Notes 12 May 2008

Franklin Lamb
Choufeit, Lebanon

In the lower Chouf village of Choufeit with its panoramic view of Beirut’s closed airport (which will likely stay closed for 4 or 5 more days as a Hezbollah pressure point on the Bush administration to achieve a settlement that it views as fair and just), Dahiyeh, Sabra, Shatila and Burj Burajneh Palestinian Refugee Camps; Pentecost Sunday started in a somber mood for the few remaining Christians and dominant Druze population of this picturesque, rugged, hilly and ancient village.

The reason was that virtually the whole village was in attendance at a 9 a.m. memorial service for two supporters of the Druze Lebanese Democratic Party, 18 year old ____ and 22 year old _____ (names withheld at the request of family pending notification of family members living outside Lebanon) who were probably shot as they drove too fast through a newly setup check-point on May 10th. (The exact circumstances and who exactly was responsible are not clear given the myriad explanations one receives depending on who one talks to in this tight-knit village. Read the rest of this entry »

Isfahan is a short animated film inspired by stunning Persian architecture and created by Etérea Studios. H/T to friend and inspiration Ressentiment. For a great Persian culture fix (and much else besides) see also Reclaiming Space’s Iranian sister city blog Forever Under Construction, and also check out NeoResistance. The clip may need a few seconds to load.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of London yesterday to show their support for the Palestinian cause. The demonstrators were calling for an end to the siege on Gaza, the right of return for Palestinians, and an end to Israeli occupation. Looks like Neturei Karta were there as well (1:41)

Read the rest of this entry »

An interesting look at the militarisation of the US economy from Nick Turse. While the US has long been a permanent war economy, the consumer dimension of the corporate overlap has not–until recently–been highlighted.

War’s shopping cart

Pepsi, Apple, Krispy Kreme and other consumer firms profit from Iraq too.

By Nick Turse | LA Times

Last month, a review of 2006 congressional financial disclosure statements by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics found that lawmakers have as much as $196 million “invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the start of the Iraq war.” An Associated Press article on the report, however, offered a caveat: “Not all the companies invested in by lawmakers are typical defense contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received defense-related contracts.”

But the Associated Press is wrong. The fact is that corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson are, indeed, typical defense contractors. To suggest that such firms, and tens of thousands like them, only receive defense-related contracts at the odd, aberrant moment is specious at best. Read the rest of this entry »

Beirut Street Notes: Hamra

Hezbollah eases up and Beirut opens its shutters

Franklin Lamb
Beirut

Saturday Afternoon May 10 2008 witnessed a pronounced easing of tension.

Is a solution at hand?

Based on a US Congressional source, the Siniora government is reportedly able, with US approval, to offer the following face-saving proposal to Hezbollah to end the current crisis:

1. Hezbollah can keep its landline optic telecommunication cables for use in its Resistance struggle against Israel. But they should be put under “State Control”. Translation: Hezbollah controls them exclusively same as now and no one else will touch them. But ‘officially’ they will be under ‘State’ control, i.e. not State control.

2. Concerning the other major issue regarding the head of Beirut Airport Security, General Wafiq Shouqair gets reassigned but Hezbollah gets to name his replacement. Translation: Wafiq stays in office, keeps his authority and puts his deputy’s name card slipped over his on the office nameplate. Read the rest of this entry »

A fair summation of the crisis and interviews with Nicholas Noe, Anwar Wazen and Mohsen Saleh from Al Jazeera’s Inside Story. Saleh is pro-Opposition, Brussels-based Wazen is obviously anti-Hezbollah. This is followed by Nasrallah’s address; a three minute highlights clip with English subtitles followed by a clip of the full speech which has a voice-over translation in English.

Inside Story - Lebanon strike - 07 May 08 - Part 1 (12.52)

Read the rest of this entry »