Watch Lebanon

Interestingly enough, one of the indictments against George Bush is that he and Condoleezza Rice encouraged elections in Lebanon and Gaza. They look at the results and proclaim that elections are not for some societies. “Look what they did, they legitimatized Hezbollah and Hamas,” the claim goes. But I believe that time will tell and that history will show that the Bush vision for the region, that of democratizing country after country will be revered as one of the great accomplishments in our time. Facilitating change of any country from an oppressive regime to one where people chose their leaders stands up to any indictment.

Where one election turned out in favor of the better organized and better funded terrorist groups, there are always more elections to come. The unique thing about elections, if they are allowed to be freely done is that they provide a self-correcting mechanism for any society. Over time, the elected people tend to establish a balance in the middle somewhere between the radical extremes. Over-played agendas tend to be reversed. If one extreme catches a vacuum of credibility caused by the opposite extreme, they are able to rush in and seize more power than they normally would.

In Lebanon we may get to see the phenomenon. Hezbollah won based on people’s fears of a weak government. Lebanon’s popular President Rafik Hariri had just been assassinated, not only leaving a leadership vacuum on the Christian side, but leaving an angry population. Now, it appears that a stunning revelation is coming out of the UN inquiry into who killed Hariri. It might not have been the foreign nation, Syria. It might have been the opposition party itself, Hezbollah.

The UN has yet to announce the findings. A German newspaper has unofficially leaked the information. Truth was leaked in spite of a well organized blanket to cover it. The results could be catastrophic for Hezbollah not only in the upcoming elections, but militarily as well. Likewise, it could be another devastating blow to Iran’s ability to control the region. Hezbollah’s sponsor is also having an election. Perhaps the association will cause enough damage to the ruthless Shiites in Iran as well.

Should all that happen and elections do what they are intended to do, we will see the peaceful change of power against these radical Islamists – all courtesy of the Bush Doctrine. However, there is also a scenario many are concerned about. And that is the one where the Shiites of Hezbollah and Iran lose their elections and yet refuse to relinquish power, proving what many have suspected. That is the concern that they were only interested in democracy when it served their purposes. If that proves to be the case, they will go militant and the Middle East will erupt. Gone will be the canard that it is all about Israel. It is really all about ruthless power. It always was.

There are several great articles on this. If you only access the MSM you aren't getting it. Here is a good Michael Totten article.

Up to Jerusalem

Oh I know the press has so many things to cover that it just can’t do it all, right? And, the Pope is always going here and there and it is hard to just keep someone assigned to cover his whole itinerary. So it isn’t surprising that when you google Pope in Jerusalem you don’t bring up any stories from the main-stream media.

So, do you know he was in Jerusalem today? Yup, he went there and sat face to face with he head Muslim clerics in the City. Apparently, the chief judge there, the one in charge of enforcing sharia law really went off on the Pope about the evil Jews. AND POPE BENEDICT XVI GOT UP AND WALKED OUT ON HIM! Hey Judge! That was the Pope who got up and walked out on you!

I like Pope Benedict. I think he is looking for ways to make peace with Muslims. That doesn’t mean he is fooled by them. He has had a previous clash with them before. He accurately quoted from a 400 year old text and Muslims went berserk because they didn’t like what it said, even if one of their guys said it. He learned from that incident that in order to dialogue with them we need to first establish a peaceful rapport. That is what he was trying to do in Jerusalem. Good for the Pope. But when he got an earful of “we hate the Jews and so should you!” , he got up and walked out.

Now, President Obama, I hope you read my blog because I am giving you a big hint here. You are going to visit the same Middle East in a few weeks. This is a test. It is a test by God, himself. You are going to get the same blah, blah, blah from the same people. What are you going to do? Are you going to be a man, look them straight in the eye and tell them to pound sand? Or are you going to apologize for their harsh treatment and side with them on the idea that Israel must give them more land while they continue to pursue Israel’s extinction.?

The worst case scenario is if Obama somehow signs on as the Muslims’ benefactor and champion for their rights WHILE SIMULTANIOUSLY signing on as Israel’s protector and defender.

This is all happening in the next few weeks. Are you ready?