Middle Eastern News

Huge Pro-Syrian Protest Held in Beirut

More than 100,000 protesters have held a mass rally in Beirut to support Syria’s military presence in Lebanon, and show their opposition to U.S.-led efforts to get Syria to leave. Waving Lebanese flags and chanting pro-Syrian slogans, the huge crowd occupied one of Beirut’s main squares to vent their anger at the United States and Israel, and to express solidarity with Syria. The rally was organized by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah militant group, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States.

That’s fine as a story—but that was from from Voice of America, the US government-run international news service. Why report that, with the accompanying photo? Trying to gain legitimacy with readers?

Meanwhile, this was reported in the BBC: Springtime for Mid-East democracy?

The Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was more dramatic. He told the Washington Post: “I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world… The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it.” And remember that Mr Jumblatt once spoke of the US occupation of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Gaza with these words: “We are all happy when an American soldier is killed… The fall of one Jew, whether soldier or civilian, is a great accomplishment.”

Finally, Marvel meets Manga in a new Middle East comic book.