Lebanese government collapses

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Jan 31, 2008
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#1
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011112151356430829.html

Lebanon's unity government has collapsed after the Hezbollah movement and its political allies resigned from the cabinet over arguments stemming from a UN probe into the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, in 2005.

There has been growing political tension in Lebanon, amid signs that Hezbollah members could be indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

Ten ministers tendered their resignations on Wednesday after reports that al-Hariri's son Saad, the prime minister, had refused their call to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss the investigation by the STL.

An eleventh member later stood down, automatically bring down al-Hariri's government.

The request to convene the cabinet meeting came on Tuesday after Syria and Saudi Arabia, who have for months been attempting to act as mediators in Lebanon's political crisis, announced their efforts had failed.

The resignations, which were announced by Jubran Bassil, the energy minister, came as al-Hariri was in Washington meeting Barack Obama, the US president.

Hezbollah, which has denied any role in the assassination, has denounced the tribunal as an "Israeli project'' and urged al-Hariri to reject any findings by the court, which has not yet announced its decisions.

But al-Hariri has refused to break co-operation with the tribunal.

"Saad Hariri was on the brink of making a major concession as concerns the tribunal but occult forces prevented him from doing so," Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, told the AFP news agency without elaborating.

The standoff between al-Hariri's camp and Hezbollah over the UN tribunal has paralysed the government for months and sparked concerns of sectarian violence similar to the one that brought the country close to civil war in May 2008.
 
Nov 20, 2006
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#4
From following Lebanese politics for awhile it's my understanding that lot of terms are used for shock value and don't quite follow the actual meaning. I think he's referring to either our State Department or figures in the March 14 coalition like Samir Geagea that want to see the opposition parties gone. Walid Jumblatt isn't the one to lay blame on the Illumunatti or juice. I think Hariri is trying to be a good president for Lebanon and has made alot of efforts to keep stability, but it's pretty hard to please both Hezbollah and Hillary Clinton at the same time.
 
Jan 31, 2008
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#5
In what context is Walid Jumblatt using the word "occult?"
i would assume:

Definitions of occult on the Web:

eclipse: cause an eclipse of (a celestial body) by intervention; "The Sun eclipses the moon today"; "Planets and stars often are occulted by other celestial bodies"
become concealed or hidden from view or have its light extinguished; "The beam of light occults every so often"
supernatural: supernatural forces and events and beings collectively; "She doesn't believe in the supernatural"
hidden and difficult to see; "an occult fracture"; "occult blood in the stool"
hide from view; "The lids were occulting her eyes"
supernatural practices and techniques; "he is a student of the occult"
mysterious: having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; "mysterious symbols"; "the mystical style of Blake"; "occult lore"; "the secret learning of the ancients"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
 
Dec 3, 2009
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#6
Some people think occult means black magic and fortune telling..

But it can mean simply hidden knowledge. Any knowledge that is hidden from you
is occult.

If humans knew even some of the occult knowledge... they could not be controled and oppressed and the illusion of everything around them would collapse..
 
Jan 31, 2008
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#7
Hundreds of protesters have descended on the Lebanese city of Tripoli to take part in a "day of rage" over the likely appointment of a Hezbollah-backed candidate as prime minister.

Convoys of vehicles took demonstrators to the northern city. Protests were also planned elsewhere.

On Monday, Hezbollah gained the support of parliament needed to allow Najib Mikati to form the next government.

But protesters accuse the Shia Islamist movement of staging a coup.

The US has also expressed "great concern" over Hezbollah dominating the government.

Lebanon's national unity cabinet collapsed on 12 January after a row over a UN tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of Rafik Hariri, the father of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Mr Hariri had refused to renounce the UN inquiry that correspondents say will blame senior Hezbollah figures for his father's murder. Hezbollah says the investigation is politically motivated.

'Blood boiling'
Reports on Monday said demonstrations broke out in various regions with a significant Sunni Muslim population.

Demonstrators burnt tyres and chanted "Sunni blood is boiling!", reported AFP news agency.

On Monday, protesters blocked roads and burned tyres in towns and cities
On Tuesday, reports suggested schools and shops in the Tripoli area had closed down in anticipation of further protests on what has been dubbed a "day of rage".

Protesters were also expected to take to the streets in the capital Beirut and the mainly Sunni southern coastal city of Sidon.

Under Lebanon's power-sharing system, the post of prime minister is reserved for a Sunni, while the president must be a Maronite Christian and the speaker of parliament a Shia.

During consultations with President Michel Suleiman at the presidential palace on Monday Mr Mikati - a Sunni and US-educated billionaire businessman - won the support of 65 of the 128 members of the Chamber of Deputies.

It was the decision of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and six members of his Progressive Socialist Party to switch their allegiance from Mr Hariri that swung the vote.

President Suleiman is due to announce his choice for the post on Tuesday after meeting all groups in parliament.

However, Mr Hariri has already said he will refuse to join a Hezbollah-led coalition government. Hezbollah is backed by Iran.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said that if the group's candidate was appointed prime minister, it would try to form another national unity government that included Mr Hariri's Western-backed Future Movement.

Hezbollah is on the official US list of foreign terrorist organisations and is subject to financial and travel sanctions.