Jumblatt repeats warning that Syria imperils Lebanon's independence

The Daily Star-Lebanon
Monday, December 08, 2008

BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt said on Sunday that the Syrian regime posed a danger to Lebanon's "independence movement," referring to his anti-Damascus March 14 Forces. "The Syrian regime is the first and last danger that the independence movement is facing," he told his party's general assembly, which was held in the town of Baakline in the Chouf Mountains, southeast of Beirut.

Jumblatt said that next year's parliamentary elections would decide Lebanon's fate in the near future.

"If the March 14 Forces lose the elections, the country will return to the period of Syrian tutelage," he said.
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A Report on the 4 December Settler Attacks on Palestinians in Hebron

Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center (AIC)
08 December 2008

On Thursday, 4 December, in the early evening, hundreds of Israeli settlers from settlements in the Hebron region attacked Palestinian residents of the city of Hebron. The settlers, mostly armed young men from Kiryat Arba, split into smaller groups and set fire to five homes and nine cars. They also damaged nine other vehicles, including the city’s ambulances and a fire truck that was dispatched to put out fires started by the settlers. The settlers wounded some two dozen Palestinians, nine of whom were shot by the settlers. The serious attacks occurred in an areas that are located near Kiryat Arba, such as Wadi Nassara, Wadi Husain, Ja’bari Square and al-Ras.
Abed al-Hay Abu Is’afan, 67, who was shot in the leg by settlers, stated “When the settlers attacked our house and wanted to burn it, we tried to stop them and defend our family. One of the settlers shot my son Hisni on the left side of his chest from two meters away. And then he shot me. This happened in front of many soldiers who were in the place, but didn’t stop him or arrest him. My son is now in the hospital in serious condition.”

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Lebanon's Aoun Visits Syria

Al-Jazeera, News-Middle East

Michel Aoun, leader of Lebanon's National Patriotic Movement, has been holding meetings with Syrian officials in Damascus.
Speaking before he departing for Damascus on Wednesday, Aoun said that his visit is justified because diplomatic ties have been set up between the Lebanese and Syrian governments.
"They are welcoming me with admiration and respect ... I was a rival and the rivalry has ended and I may become a friend," he said.
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Palestinians fear Israeli moves in parts of East Jerusalem

By Isabel Kershner,
International Herald Tribune, Published: December 7, 2008

JERUSALEM: A series of recent Israeli actions in the mainly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem have raised tensions there, with Palestinian and Israeli critics contending that they are part of a wider plan to "Judaize" historically charged areas around the Old City.

The actions, ostensibly unconnected, include the demolition of two Arab homes in Silwan, a neighborhood adjacent to the Old City above the ruins of an ancient Jewish site; the start of a controversial infrastructure project there; and the eviction of a Palestinian family from its home in Sheik Jarrah, another neighborhood coveted by Jewish nationalists near the Old City.

None of these actions in themselves are that unusual here. But the spate of high-profile, highly symbolic moves in the past few weeks has reignited concerns that an increasing Jewish presence in Arab areas will further complicate the chances of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian political agreement based on a two-state solution that calls for a division of powers in a shared capital.

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Turkey in Arab Eyes

Mustafa El-Labbad, Al-Ahram Weekly

After an absence of many decades, Turkey has returned as a major player in the Middle East. Clearly motivated by national interests, its reengagement in the affairs of the region will have significant repercussions on Middle Eastern balances of powers. It will also impact on the way Arab elites regard Turkey and their judgements on that country's historical experience since the declaration of the republic in 1923.

Despite its relatively long absence, the ideological prism through which Arab politicians and intellectuals of all shades of the political spectrum view Turkey has hampered an objective view of that great and ancient country that had such a profound historical impact on the region. For decades, Arab leftists and Arab nationalists branded Turkey as subordinate to the West on the basis of the Cold War experience and Ankara's membership in the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) and then NATO. This static, one dimensional and essentially facile judgement naturally hampered the ability to monitor and appreciate the major developments and changes that Turkey has undergone. Arab Islamists, meanwhile, have long faulted the founders of the Turkish Republic for having ended -- and establishing itself on the ruins of -- the Islamic caliphate. Yet, so intent are they in condemning the republic for its "historical crime" that they missed the fact that the founders of the republic actually scored a historical achievement, which was to salvage what they could of an empire that had already disintegrated and that the West had virtually pronounced dead. Indeed, even Istanbul, the capital of the country and the seat of the caliphate, was under foreign occupation at the time of the founding of the republic, along with other chunks of present day Turkey, and it fell to Turkish soldiers in the ranks of Mustafa Kemal to recapture their land from British, Italian and even Greek forces.

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Mamma Mia

Sophie yaklasmakta olan dugununden once annesinin gunluklerini okur. Babasini bulmak ve dugununde onunla beraber yuruyebilmek umuduyla annesinin uc eski sevgilisine annesinden habersiz dugun davetiyesi gonderir. Baba adaylari da dugune katilmak icin Yunan adasi Kalokairi'ye gelirler. Fakat isler gorundugu gibi yurumez ve Sophie son ana kadar adaylardan hangisinin kendi babasi olduguna karar veremez. Annesi -Donna- ise Sam'in Sophie'nin babasi oldugunu bilmektedir. Dugun gunu isler karisir. Sophie'nin dugunu ertelenir, Sam Donna'ya evlilik teklif eder ve Donna kabul eder.

Konusunu yukarida kisaca ozetlemeye calistigim Mamma Mia tum zamanlarin en iyi Hollywood film muzikalinin sinemaya uyarlanmis hali. Pop grubu Abba'nin sarkilari (I Have A Dream, Honey Honey, Money Money Money, Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Our Last Summer...) filme renk katiyor.

"mamma mia, here i go again
my my, how can i resist you?
mamma mia, does it show again?
my my, just how much i've missed you
yes, i've been brokenhearted
blue since the day we parted
why, why did i ever let you go?
mamma mia, now i really know,
my my, i could never let you go."

Into The Wild

Emory College'i iyi bir dereceyle bitirdikten sonra toplumla arasindaki iliskiyi cuzdanindaki paralarla birlikte yakan ve Alaska'ya dogru yollara dusen bir gencin, Chris McCandless'in oykusu. Alaska yolunda hippie bir ciftle, yasli bir adamla, kitap satan bir ciftle ve bir ciftciyle paylasilan gunler; California, South Dakota, Nevada, Oregon ve Meksika'ya uzanan bir Alaska'ya gidis oykusu. Kariyer ve parayi 20. yuzyilin kustugu pislikler olarak tanimlayan basarili bir gencin vahsi doganin kucagina dogru israrli yuruyusu hurda bir otobusun icinde sona eriyor. Cesedini bulan geyik avcilari McCandless'in yuzune daha dikkatli baksalardi mutluluga, basariya, daha dogrusu hayatin kendisine yonelik derin bir sorgulayisin izleriyle karsilasirlardi.