I recently had the pleasure of an extended stay with an educated Lebanese/Syrian family (Christians as it happens, not that that should matter).
During that time, we watched a lot of Arabic satellite TV, and they explained the politics of Lebanon and Syria to me.
Oh, that on-line media could provide a fraction of the background and insight into such an interesting area. Like yourself, they worry about Lebanon’s security, but unlike the knee-jerk PJ-media editorial line, they had a much richer insight into the complexity of Lebanese society.
Just a few things among many:
Hareri is widely regarded as a criminal and large-scale swindler who most probably was murdered by his criminal associates;
Syria is undergoing a true renaissance at the moment, Bashir has gone a long way in liberalising society and sidelining the worst of his father’s associates, without losing his life, many who hated the father have glowing praise for the son;
and Hezbollah are in no way the only or the worst violent faction in the country — my hosts sympathised with Hezbollah, whose support extends well beyond the Shia (I politely disagreed but softenened my position a little), hated Israel (I support Israel in many of her historical struggles, but also perfectly hate what she did to Lebanon over the years), admired Aoun, but despised Geagea (beloved among many Lebanese of the West), to them a gangster and the worst of the faction heads.
