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Tuesday, June 21, 2005

A Republic--If They Can Keep It

The Lebanese have spoken loudly against Syrian domination:

The anti-Syrian opposition led by Saad Hariri captured control of Lebanon's parliament Monday in the fourth and final round of the country's elections, breaking Syria's long domination of the country.

So far, so good. But I'm not confident that the Syrians have agreed to go:

Former Communist Party leader George Hawi was killed by an explosion under his seat as he was being driven through west Beirut. The blast came a day after official results of parliamentary elections were announced, showing the anti-Syrian opposition had won a majority in parliament.

Syria get political leverage in its conflict with Israel and lots of cash from skimming from the Lebanon economy and from Syrians working in Lebanon. I find it hard to believe that the hard gentlemen from Damascus will let that go because we and the French looked cross at them.

We shall see how badly the Lebanese want to defend their freedom when their revolt moves beyond the "protest babe" phase.

I wish them luck.