BetLZ News 2.3.10

Report: Lebanese officer suspected of spying for Israel / Ynetnews

Lebanon aims to build on banking success / Financial Times

Who will pray at Lebanon's rebuilt synagogue? / BBC News

Syrian FM: US has nominated ambassador to Damascus / Washington Post


DNA Samples from Ethiopian Relatives of Plane Crash Arrive in Beirut / Naharnet

Ethiopian air crash shines light on lives of migrant workers / Los Angeles Times

Low broadband penetration is hurting Lebanon's competitiveness / iloubnan.info

In an Elie Saab World / New York Times

~LZ

"We are not smiling"

"these is only one flag"

"we are not smiling"

and, in case you haven't noticed, I also made him sit on a lower chair.

Who comes up with this stuff, really?

I mean, you are a diplomat. Act like one!

BG

Lebanese Syrian Relations 3

After years and years of not recognizing Lebanon as a sovereign state but finally appointing an ambassador and stalling in terms of sending him to Beirut to actually do his duties, Syria has finally ordered its' ambassador to go to Beirut and start his job.

He crossed the Syrio-Lebanese border yesterday headed towards Beirut.

Timing anyone??

IS there any hidden agenda in the timing?
I personally would like to think not. Sometimes I get the feeling that the Syrians do these kinds of things just to fuel their esoteric fires more and more. Kinda adds to the whole dark enigma state type of thing.

And since this IS the middle east, it follows then that there is a conspiracy theory behind everything. It just remains to be seen what that theory is.

Is he coming to interfere with the elections?
Is he so sure of the results (that they are going to be favorable towards march 8th) that he feels comfortable coming before and not after?
Does he feel that he is going to be right at home with the new parliament that is going to emerge that he feels comfy to come already?
Is the pressure mounting on Syria by the Americans and the Europeans?

And so on and so forth . . .

Of course, the regular normal explanation would be that he was just recently appointed and is just now able to take on the duties of the office to which he was assigned.

But that is too boring, and so not middle east.


BG

Lebanese Syrian Relations 2

FINALLY

Syria finally appoints its ambassador to Lebanon.
After years of not recognizing Lebanon as an independent sovereign nation, Syria has finally succumbed to international pressure to recognize its' tiny neighbor as an independent entity not part of its' own greater geographical existence. It remains to be seen if the Syrians will actually follow up this recognition of independence by not interfering in Lebanese internal affairs and not undermining Lebanon's sovereignty.
We can only hope that Lebanese Syrian relationships are finally on the right track.

This is certainly a first step in the right direction.
A plethora of issues remain to be solved:

• final and concrete demarcation of the border that separates the two countries
• review of the various treaties signed under Syrian occupation that are mostly one-sided and favor Syria
• dismantling of the various pro-Syrian Palestinian military posts
• and most importantly, the return/fate of the various Lebanese prisoners in Syria

Youtube Video

BBC Story

BG