RESISTANCE

A few weeks ago, I finished reading The Coldest Winter, the late David Halberstam’s book on the Korean War. Throughout the book the question of who lost China was examined, because this dispute so affected our reaction to the North Korean invasion of its southern half. The same question could be asked today about Lebanon: Who and how was Lebanon lost? Interested observers have already started. The NY Times, WSJ and the newsweeklies have all had insightful pieces on the question. A history of failed Lebanese and Western efforts is innumerated by WSJ writer Bret Stephens, who frames the question as a who-done-it.

By Java Jag’s reckoning, Lebanon was lost by every individual and institution that did not challenge Hassan Nasrallah’s distortion of the term “RESISTANCE” and his use of the Shabba Farms fabrication to keep the resistance alive. Initially, only the small Shia farmers of Hula and Rmaich in Southern Lebanon bought into this delusion, but ultimately even the Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema walked arm in arm with the resisters. That’s when Lebanon was lost for good.

"Resistance?"
During the 2006 Israeli Hizzbollah war, endless interviews were conducted by western journalists among the Shia of South Lebanon. To an adolescent, they praised Hizzbollah for its resistance. Never mind that the Israelis pulled back in 2000 to internationally recognized borders, and full Lebanese sovereignty was restored in every town and village. The war was still going on in Hizzbollah’s mind, with aggression and provocation centered on the dual issues of disputed Shabba Farms land and anti-Zionist hatred. This was far more important than either encouraging the Shia to live in peace or developing a modern economy with opportunities for Shia children. No political force, Lebanese or Pan Arab countered this small but powerful cancer.

The party-on, disco going, love-nest-in-Beirut Sunnis and their Saudi and Gulf Arab financiers, thought this was some sort of localized silliness that had no effect on the rest of Lebanon or their own real estate interests. They were wrong. The Iranians, sensing that by utilizing this guise of resistance they could transform this Shia private army into a government, were smarter. For who in the Arab world can resist resistance against Jews?

It seems clear now that the Hizzbollah border incursion to kidnap Israeli soldiers in 2006 was not really aimed at attacking Israel but at secular Lebanon. Through war and violence, they could solidify and expand their position in Lebanon. When the provoked Israelis struck back (poorly), the Shia army actually did resist. When the world became horrified at the death and destruction of Lebanon by the Israeli air force and turned a blind eye to the rockets flying from Lebanon into Israel, the Iranian dream was fulfilled. Hizzbollah was the new powerful force of military might and the Lebanese civil government became isolated, a remnant and a reminder of the Christian crusader days.

Resisting the resistors, supporters of the Lebanese government.

Like all mobs in power, more is better. Hizzbollah wanted more land, more guns, more rockets, and more war infrastructure. Clearly sensing that having your own fiber optic communication system was not just resistance, the Sinora Government struck back and got its hand slapped… hard. Cancers grow until they overwhelm the body’s defenses. By not resisting the resisters, the fractured, traitor-infused (Michael Aoun) Lebanese government has found itself sucked into the black hole of turbaned, bearded Shia “theologians” and their London “We are all Hizzbollah” enablers who are waging a multi-pronged war against: mini-skirts, Jews, modernity, nightclubs, Sunnis, dating, and the West.

This Saudi/Sunni/Whabbi defeat is actually blowback from their own hate campaign against the West/Jews/Israel. The Whabbi preachers, who have lost their fellow countrymen billions in Lebanese real estate, have no one to blame but themselves for the loss of Lebanon. The intentional endless hate mongering that blared from every Whabbi pulpit gave the Shia Iranians all the theological cover anyone could need to topple the Sunni Lebanese, who were actually trying to build a real economy, not just resist Zionism. Let’s hope it’s not be too late for the Saudi petro-princes to see that the Shia use resistance to undermine their interests all over the world (see Gaza). If that is the case, then Lebanon will be more of a final act, like 1939 Poland, to the Sunni intelligencia rather than the impassive pitiful helplessness shown to 1938 Czechoslovakia. We will see, what comes out of Qatar negotiations, or we will just continue to resist seeing.