Spiegel's article on Hezbollah's involvment in Hariri's murder or the reinvention of Detlev Mehlis: a story in two acts by Netanyahu and Lieberman

Under the title 'New Evidence Points to Hezbollah in Hariri Murder', the German daily Spiegel joins the ranks of those who are trying to inlfluence the outcome of the coming legislative elections in Lebanon where Hezbollah and its christian coalition are expected to win.

Basically, nothing is new in the article because it recycles the first hypothesis for Hariri's murder: Hariri was killed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon. Strange enough, this hypothesis was advanced by the German Detlev Mehlis who was appointed to lead the special tribunal investigating Hariri's murder. Mehlis's work was described as lousy: he interviewed only people close to the Hariri clan, he did not conduct extended investigations, many of his witnesses were discredited, and finally Mehlis was disgraced, a disgrace that threatened to taint the way the UN does international justice. The UN appointed then the Belgian Serge Brammertz to conduct the investigation. Brammertz's method was different: he relied more on facts and solid evidence than on hearsay. Moreover, Brammertz's investigation seemed to lead to a new hypothesis: the business dealings of the late murdered Hariri.

Nevertheless,the Spiegel article, ignoring a considerable amount of evidence pertaining to the credibility of both prosecutors, affirms nonchatlantly:

In late 2005, an investigation team approved by the United Nations and headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis found, after seven months of research, that Syrian security forces and high-ranking Lebanese officials were in fact responsible for the Hariri murder. Four suspects were arrested. But the smoking gun, the final piece of evidence, was not found. The pace of the investigation stalled under Mehlis's Belgian successor, Serge Brammertz.

The tribunal is now headed by judge Daniel Bellemare. If you listen to the careful and media shy Bellemare in a press briefing answering journalists' questions you wonder how Spiegel was able to access such 'explosive' revelations. Israel's new foreign minister was the first to react calling for

And if this latest piece of disinformation from Spiegel is meant to influence Lebanese who are going to vote on June 4th, it surely missed its target. Lebanese media, from all sides, are skeptical and unmoved. But the main target for such an irresponsible piece of journalism (or can we still call it journalism ?) is maybe the international opinion who is opening up to Hezbollah as a political force in Lebanon. Is Lebanon going to be the new Gaza ? Are we going to try to stall the democratic process there, and stall the Israeli-Arab peace process knowing that: 1) Lebanon and Hezbollah are at the center of the Israeli-Arab tensions, not Hamas and the lousy Abbas who were defeated and are unable to speak for their people ? 2) That Israel's new right wing government does not want to hear of any peace process and is reluctantly preparing for a new war on Lebanon after experiencing a humiliating defeat at the hands of few hundred Hezbollah militants in 2006. 3) That Hezbollah is a very popular movement inside Lebanon, and who are, contrary to Hamas and the representatives of the Palestinians, widely supported and respected in the Arab world ?

Having failed in the war against Hezbollah, Israel is now trying to manipulate international justice against its most serious ennemy in the Arab world who are at the brink of winning a historic election in a country Israel occupied twice, and desperately wanted to neutralise its resistance. The next act ? If Hezbollah wins the elections, Israel might contemplate another war on Lebanon. However, Israel never learned the lesson: Lebanon is not and will not be a second Gaza.
Angry Arab reminds us that on this day in 2000 Israel humiliatingly fled Lebanon, thanks to Hezbollah. This was before the 2006 defeat.

Read here why Spiegel's article is probably a 'plant'.

And once again, French blogger Loubnan Ya Loubnan gives us a socratic tour of the western media reporting on the latest developments in the Hariri investigation and the Spiegel's article.

Civil libertarians on Obama's speech adressing Guantanamo: All bells and whistles

Barely four months into the job, read what constitutional lawyer Michael Ratner had to say to the Huffington Post on Obama, Guantanamo, Torture, and military tribunals:

"He wraps himself in the Constitution, talks about American values and then proceeds to violate them."
..."Though we'd do it differently then Bush. We will set up rules. Well no matter how you repackage Guantanamo, with all kinds of rules on top of it -- that is what he is doing, he is re-wrapping a preventive detention scheme and giving it some more due process. In the end, it still comes down to holding people -- much like Minority Report or pre-crime stuff -- for being dangerous, and that is not something that I think is constitutional or this country should be engaged in."
..."I always believe that democracy dies behind closed doors, and the fact that these photos are being hidden right now -- if anything, it makes people think that there is a lot being hidden right now and that there is much more to this."
..."What is unfortunately effective about Obama is that he is able to use a setting like the National Archives, talk about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and all that, get people to sincerely believe he is [committed to these principles] and then go ahead and in my view undercut the core aspects of those documents,"

Rumsfeld's biblical memos

Rumsfeld and co definitely outsmarted Bin Laden with these memos. But Bin Laden had one permanent impact on the US (beside the WTC), he dragged the most powerful country in the world in the abyss of religious idiocy.

The paradox of Israel's pursuit of might

By the Guardian's Max Hastings.

Palestinian Christians

This article highlights the ignorance of pro-Israeli westerners of the demographics of Palestinians and hopes that the Pope's visit bring a certain awareness in the West that there are indeed Palestinians who are christians and that their land and their homes have been occupied by Israel and its settlement expansion policy. The article does not mention however that one of the most successful Palestinian liberation movements, the FPLP, was mostly run by Christians.
And the article does not mention that the misfortunes of Christians in the Arab world are due mainly to US and Israel's policies of war and alliance with corrupt regimes, except of course Egypt where there is a historic and systematic intimidation of Coptes by the state and the muslim brotherhood.

Lebanon arrest over a dozen individuals spying for Israel

Lebanese security forces arrest Lebanese and one Palestinian on charges of spying for Israel. The Palestinian arrested is the cousin of the fugitive head of the islamist group Fatah al-Islam:

The Palestinian, Mohammad Awad, used his car dealership in South Lebanon to spy on Hizbullah activities. Curiously, Awad is said to be the cousin of Abu Mohammad Awad, the fugitive head of Islamist group Fatah al-Islam. The group, which based itself at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, engaged the Lebanese Armed Forces in three months of deadly fighting in 2007 that reduced the camp to rubble.

The Palestinian Archipelago And The Death Of The Two State Solution

This map shows what is left of oriental Palestine. For those who are not familiar with the matter, the map uses irony by naming 'islands' the different occupied Palestinian villages and cities, cut from each other by settlements, walls, settler only roads and military barrages. The question is how much those who still defend the two state solution are out of touch with the reality of the land and the people in Palestine today. And does their peace rethoric about Israel-Palestine and the two state solution have any relation to reality ?
Look at the map, click to zoom in, and judge by yourself.
The map is published by Le Monde Diplomatique here.

The map is also published here with a word from its author Julien Bousac.

“Maybe posting the full map would help to take it for what it is, i.e. an illustration of the West Bank’s ongoing fragmentation based on the (originally temporary) A/B/C zoning which came out of the Oslo process, still valid until now. To make things clear, areas ‘under water’ strictly reflect C zones, plus the East Jerusalem area, i.e. areas that have officially remained under full Israeli control and occupation following the Agreements. These include all Israeli settlements and outposts as well as Palestinian populated areas.”