My Laptop and I

have had a very close relationship since the beginning of the violence in Lebanon. And while I sit here and curse the American media firewall against all non-American news, I just want to show some undying love to the people who blog in English about the fighting for the non-Arabic speakers like me.

Sandmonkey
Charles Malik
and The Angry Arab News Service.

The latter which gave me my one and only moment of laughter during this horror:

Commenting on the Saudi propogranda war-
"AlArabiya TV rolls out advocates for Husni Mubarak and House of Saud and Hashemite Kingdom who state (without irony) that they are opposed to Hizbullah because the latter is not democratic."

I too wonder how they could say that with a straight face.

But what I want to know is why were the Sunni militia told to stand down? Whats the ultimate game here?

Charles Malik writes here that it is Syria backing Hezbollah with the plan of resuming control over Lebanese politics, hokay, and this seems to be a general consensus. As'ad Abukhalil (Angry Arab) wrote :

"You can't analyze the situation in the Middle East only in pure sectarian terms. For example: NBN TV (Nabih Birri TV) yesterday reported that `Adil `Abdul-Mahdi (a leader of the pro-US, pro-Iranian Badr sectarian militia which, among other crimes, largely orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Iraq) called Nabih Birri (the leader of the Amal sectarian militia which led the war on the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, when Palestinian brothers and sisters were forced to eat rats to survive). So the leader of a militia that is implementing the US plan in Iraq, called and congratulated (?) the leader of the militia that is fighting the US plan in Lebanon?"

Which would lead one to believe that this may have been US-backed, but how in the hell could someone be "pro-US" AND "pro-Iranian" at the same time?

I spoke Thursday evening with the clerk of the Lebanese-owned cornerstore by my house who talked about Hezbollah being backed by Syria, or more specifically the pro-Alouwite (or shall I say Alouwite majority?) government in Syria and Iran. Which was news to me as I had largely ignored Syria and did not know the president is an Alouwite (shi'a for those who don't know what Alouwite is.. crazy ass shi'a.)

Anyways, so one could with confidence assume that Hezbollah, Amal, and the SSNP were backed by Syria and Iran (which Iran is so much of a given that I almost forgot to mention it,) but why US-backed?

And why were the Sunnis told to back down?

Abukhalil quoted from the NY Times,

""On Friday, numerous men in the Sunni neighborhood of Tarik Jadideh complained that they had been given instructions not to fight, and now felt humiliated. “Saad Hariri let us down,” said one young man in Tarik Jadideh, where the streets were still littered with broken glass on Friday, and blackened building facades bore witness to fierce battles the night before with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. “We don’t want the Future Movement any more, or the whole Hariri family.” The man refused to give his name, because Mr. Hariri is such an important figure in the area. Another young man added: “What happened last night around midnight is that orders were given to desert our positions and go home.""

And Sandmonkey writes,

"I never thought that the Sunni neighborhoods would fall this quickly, nor that Hezbollah would control Beirut this easily. But here we are, and it all seems so…deliberate. Like M14 wanted this to happen. Like they wanted Hezbollah exposed. Their refusal to engage with the opposition fighters is making the latter look-and rightfully so- like thugs."

So who is playing who? Syria/Iran funds/arms the Shi'a militia with the idea of setting up a Shi'a-ruled puppet government (don't pay any attention to the sect behind the curtain...,) somehow with the backing of the US (never you mind the chest thumping the US has been doing about fighting Iran) and the Sunni officials tell the Sunni militia to back down and let Hezbollah make an ass of itself as the meanie on the playground.

Mmkay.

So my take out of all of this is that Hezbollah tried to take over Lebanon but, without an enemy to fight, found no ground... what is keeping them from completely over-running the government offices and setting up shop?

And the humiliation the Sunnis have endured, was it a master strike in this political game of chess?

Politics... oh politics.

Inty Aasel

For a brief second today I was strongly reminded of a moment with my 2 year old twin neices.

Mr MM had them on the webcam and was asking them:

"Meen dee?" (Who's that?)

And N said,

"Tante!" (Aunt)

To which G grabbed the mic and, practically swallowing it in her excitement, said,

"Inty aasel!" (You're honey!)



*sigh*

I miss Egypt just a little.

Gag.. And in other news

Drug reps are slimy!

Drug reps are slimy!

Drug reps are slimy!

They make me want to take a bath whenever they are within 5 feet of the front desk.

Their lizard smiles, the soul-less eyes, the I'll do anything to make you buy my drugs attitude.

They're like legalized dope dealers but with less conscience.

I do like the pens and the coffee mugs though and they bring us food all the time.

I feel dirty now.

In other news:

I caucused last night. Minnesota had a record-breaking turn out this year and the Dems definately beat the flood-water pants off the Republican party. I think something like 200,000 Dems turned out to caucus while Reps could only muster a pathetic 70,000. I know my own Rep mother went home without caucusing because she would have had to miss "The Biggest Loser" *dramatic gasp* if she went to vote.

It all goes to show that the Dems are much stronger in this state than the Reps. The Dem candidates have won this state every presidential race since 1972.

Yep, I'm a proud Minnesotan.

Sound off.

And in one more random turn of topic, the "No" calls have stopped (alhumdulillah for arabic). Woot.

3araby?

I used my non-existent Arabic today at work.

How marketable is that?

For the past week almost everyday I have been receiving a phone call.

Me: M***** ***** Institute, this is Molly.

Caller: No.

Awkward silence and background noise.

Me again: M***** ***** Institute, this is Molly. (No really, I'm not kidding.)

Caller again: No.

Me: ¿Hello?

Caller: No.

Awkward silence. And I hang up.

Today they took a different route, they called twice. But this time they rounded up enough English to ask "Somali?"

The first time after going through the same routine negation that we had done daily she asked "Somali?" and I answered "No" and hung up.

The second time in I answered in exasperation, "La2, msh Somali." (No, I'm not Somali)

Caller: Mefishe Somali? (There's no Somalis?)

Me: La2, mefishe Somali.

And I hung up. Hopefully this will take care of the problem. I don't like to be informed daily that I am not Molly and I apparently don't work at M***** ***** Institute.

Guau! Qué telefonázo!

Why is it that commercials in Spanish are so much cheesier than their English counterparts? Listening to our local AM Mexican station, La Invasora, this morning on the way to work I could do nothing but laugh at the commercials. The voices, the scripting, the absurdly chipper delivery, why is there always so much cheese?

Guau! Qué telefonázo!
Wow! What a telephone!

I guess I would chalk it up to the romantic side to the Spanish language that just really does not exist in English.

In Spanish its perfectly sensible to cradle your infant son and refer to him as "mi rey, mi cielo" which translates into English as "my king, my sky."

My sky?

Yes, my sky.

It is a culture in which naming your son Inri (i.e. in the Christian tradition the four letters written in Latin on the plaque posted above Jesus' head as he hung on the cross) is entirely acceptable.

Its a tradition of romanticism that I adore. I can say things in Spanish that mean so much more than the things I can say in English (and not be sneered at).

Te adoro mi vida, mi cielo, mi corazoncito.
I adore you my life, my sky, my little heart.

You just can't pull it off in English.

Its a lot like Arabic in which you can refer to your loved one as various body parts: heart(2albi), eyes(3eini), liver(Iraqi dialect as far as I've found and can't remember what the word is); or as various celestial bodies: the sun(shamsi) or the moon(2amari). One of the most common- and overly-used- romantic phrases that I found was "eh el 2amar da?" which roughly translates to: "What a moon is this?" and is used to admire a woman's beauty comparing her to the moon.

I was once told I had a very round face. To me it meant that I looked like the michelin man, to her it meant she was telling me I was beautiful.

The most romantically surreal you could go in English would be to say that someone is the apple of your eye.

I think both languages are wonderfully expressive and rich with layered meaning. My Spanish is a thing I treasure, and learning Arabic is my beloved goal.

I just don't understand why the commercials have to be so cheesy... but maybe thats my pragmatic English side.

Mr MM ya habibi, nour 3eini, roh 2albi, bahebak geddan.
Te amo mi cielo, mi vida, mi alma.

Tuya la chonchita.

Just can't say it the same in English.