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February 13, 2012
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Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
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Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
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Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 15, 2009
/ 24 Sivan 5769
A cedar grows in Lebanon
By
Paul Greenberg
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It was the kind of news you don't expect to come out of the Middle East the good kind: "Pro-Western coalition beats Hezbollah in vote." Pro-Western? The winning ticket might as well have been labeled pro-democracy or pro-peace or, for that matter, pro-tolerance and pro-civilization. (The two have a way of going together.) As for the losers, a defeat for Hezbollah means a defeat for terror and a couple of its more notorious sponsors the dictatorial regimes in Syria and Iran. Any election that disappoints those two partners in crime, like this one in Lebanon, has to be a good thing.
Syria's campaign of assassinations in Lebanon seems to have succeeded in arousing the suspicions, even ire, of a still free people. The empty appeals to pan-Islamic fervor, wrapped in the even emptier anti-American slogans, didn't work this time. After all, Lebanon has one of the more mixed and sophisticated electorates in the Arab world; many Lebanese have visited the United States or have relatives here. They know better than to believe the kind of agitprop that regularly sways the Arab Street. Which may be why the usual demagoguery didn't work this time. Much to the surprise of us cynics.
The election returns in Lebanon represent an impressive comeback for the cause of the martyred Rafik Hariri. He led the party that finally drove the Syrians out of Lebanon in the Cedar Revolution of 2005. And paid for it with his life. His son Saad now leads the coalition of Sunni, Christian and Druze voters that emerged victorious. Its win revives hope not just for Lebanon but for democracy in the Middle East. Somewhere in Texas, George W. Bush must be smiling, for he never gave up hope for democracy even in the Arab world.
The prospects for unity, peace, and self-determination are now a little brighter for Lebanon. And beyond. Together with the growing strength of a pro-Western, pro-democratic government in ravaged Iraq, the news from Lebanon heartens. Even though we've learned not to take anything for granted in that part of the world, at least if it's a hopeful development. Where the Middle East is concerned, euphoria can be fleeting, and treacherous. So, no, this is no decisive victory for the forces of freedom; victories at the ballot box seldom are. They must be won again and again. But at least this wasn't a victory for those forces opposed to freedom. Tyranny and terror have lost a round.
There is a tide in the affairs of men, and the unexpected outcome of this election isn't just good news in itself, but an indication that things can change sometimes even for the better, sometimes even in the Middle East. Even a great cedar begins as a vulnerable little sapling thrashed about by the wind and rain. But if it can remain supple, and bend with the storms, it may yet grow strong, towering, sheltering. There is a momentum to democracy, just as there is to dictatorship, and the election returns from Lebanon indicate that the pendulum is swinging back toward a free and stable Lebanon free of foreign influences of the worst sort.
There is no shortage of elections in the Middle East; it is free and fair ones that are so rare there, which makes them all the more valuable. Even dictators respect the results of an honest election, for they lend a legitimacy to the victors that force never can. Which is why tyrants try to avoid them. Or if they can't, to manipulate them. Or if they can't do that, minimize their significance. They'll try to shrug off the results of this one, too.
But it won't be easy. This vote was a clear defeat for Iran's mullahs and its fiery president and demagogue-in-chief, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That regime's support for Hezbollah seems to have set off a reaction among Lebanon's voters. Chastened by the election's results, Hezbollah (literally, the Party of God, which strikes us as a rather insolent claim) may now be much less interested in starting still another disastrous war with Israel. This time the side with the most inflammatory slogans lost an election in the Arab world an occasion rare enough to be worth savoring. It may be a small sign, but it is a sign.
There's still many a slip 'twixt electing a pro-Western, pro-democracy, pro-peace slate in a country like Lebanon and forming an actual government. Lest we forget, the politics of Lebanon are at least as byzantine as your average Southern primary. Hezbollah retains enough clout to be part of that country's next government, but it may no longer be able to call the shots, literally. That's dramatic progress for the Middle East, where the news tends to run the gamut from bad to completely disastrous.
How did this happen? What explains these election results, which were as surprising as they are welcome? It's tempting to think Western help played some part in this happy outcome, if ever so discreetly. But the news is so good it's hard to believe the CIA had anything to do with it. Lebanon's own voters and its democratic leaders deserve the credit. And so do the repressive, not to say murderous, tactics of the Syrians and Iranianstactics that may have finally set off an electoral reaction. A reaction that is most welcome. Indeed, it was beautiful to behold, like the cedars of Lebanon.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
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