US calls for 'fair' Lebanon poll

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Lebanon

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a brief, unannounced visit to Beirut where she held talks with the president and foreign minister.

Mrs Clinton called for the upcoming general election on 7 June to be fair and free of outside interference.
***
It was a very short trip, her first trip ever to Lebanon, with a very powerful message.

Mrs Clinton said Washington supported Lebanon's sovereignty and would never make a deal with Syria that would sell out Lebanon and the Lebanese people.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8019001.stm

[IndianaGreen]

1. If Hillary is in Lebanon, she will be stopping in Israel and Palestine next

Perhaps even Syria!

[iandhr]

2. I hope

The new poll out should give her leverage

It said that 78% of Israelis and 74% of Palestinians want two states.

[bemildred]

3. I had no idea selling out Lebanon was even under consideration. nt

[ohio2007]

4. pretty much seems to be on the table now

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090426/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_ahmadinejad_3

seems everybody is 2nd guessing the secy of state's wager

[bemildred]

5. That does not say shit about Syria or Lebanon. nt

[Alamuti Lotus]

6. just be glad he didn't post a pic of this guy to accent his point

[bemildred]

8. Serious looking dude, I have to admit. nt

[ohio2007]

11. Alamuti Lotus wants to be his burka bride

the red mosque madrassas poster boy, class of '02

[Alamuti Lotus]

18. This I can't deny..

[ohio2007]

10. Just waiting to see which side wins the majority

You don't seriously think the party of god and their backers are going to lose in Lebanon do you ?

[bemildred]

16. Well, try to focus, I know it's exciting. nt

[Alamuti Lotus]

7. reading between the lines,

I believe that means that she's ok with rigging, cheating, blasting, or just faking the vote to let Harari Inc's motley clan of Bin Ladenites, Christian fascists, and various assorted corporate swindlers to keep the reigns.. just as long as it means that Hizbu'llah & Aoun lose. :shrug:

[bemildred]

9. I don't find that reasonable either.

We have no leverage. Nothing. No credible threats. I think it's just noise.

They are threatening to get the Hariri assassination trials going, but that seems to be "fungible" too.

It might be an attempt to pretend these issues are still in dispute, I suppose, or a sop thrown to our friends in the Hariri crowd, who we owe something to, after all, but other than that I don't get it, and even with that, it seems sort of dumb.

[Alamuti Lotus]

15. it may be a crazy bolt from the blue

considering the source, that isn't off the table. Carefully crafted paranoia about Syrian(-guest workers, while doing business with the government in the background) may be the staple for certain parties, but this hasn't been mentioned before her.
The line about "supporting the voices of moderation" (ie, the particularly plyable playthings) set that off for me, but I may be off.

[bemildred]

17. I'm sticking with payment of some sort of debt.

It's just too clueless to take seriously, and Hillary, bless her little heart, has generally behaved fairly cluefully so far. One has to hark back to Dolton to get this sort of airy indifference to the real world.

Edit: I mean somebody is going to have to explain why there was some concern about the US selling Lebanon out to Syria, why Ms Clinton felt compelled to allay that fear, before I'm going to take this as a straightforward statement.

[bemildred]

19. It seems safe to say that it's about the upcoming election too,

and that seems to be viewed with some trepidation, so maybe an attempt to influence the election without appearing to try to influence the election, or like that. I sometimes have trouble wrapping my mind around the tangled drivel the government gets into when it sets out to be clever.

[ohio2007]

12. --just as long as it means that Hizbu'llah & Aoun lose. ??? lol

the party of god and thier "PAC" in Iran are looking a gift horse in the mouth June 7th.

[Alamuti Lotus]

14. another completely undeciferable non-sequitur

well knock me over with a cheese straw..

[Odin2005]

13. Democracy is a joke when people vote based on sectarian considerations rather then issues.

Just saying. :shrug: