As I mentioned in my previous post, when Israel begun military operation in Lebanon, most people were quick to express sympathy for the Lebanese. I didn't hurry, because I was angry at them for their complains against Israel and their calls for international intervention to achieve immediate cease-fire. My thoughts were generally as follows:
"Why do you say you have nothing to do with Hezbollah actions, after you have a Hezbollah minister in your government? But even if you hadn't this minister, aren't Hezbollah acting from your territory? Or you don't mind armed thugs on your land, as long as they shoot at someone else? Then, don't turn into crybabies at the moment when somebody begins shooting at you.
Imagine that I live alone. A man comes to live with me, shoots at my neighbour from my window, then kidnaps his sons and hides them in my house. My neighbour invades my house, hits me, smashes my furniture while looking for his sons and the kidnapper. I scream, "Don't touch me! And spare my furniture! I'm innocent! It was a big bad guy who harmed you! And I'm not his girlfriend, he's just raping me! Anybody help me!" Then people could be excused if they think, "You must quite enjoy the raping."
Dear Lebanese, until recently you didn't mind Syrian occupation forces. You don't mind Hezbollah even now, just some of their side-effects. But you are against the Israeli troops. What, any army or militia is welcome to trot on your land except IDF? This is what people call anti-Semitism.
And what is your so-called army doing while the Israelis are fighting Hezbollah? A foreign army is fighting a gang of armed thugs on your land and your army is standing by! Such an army is a joke. Such a country is a joke. Nobody can take it seriously."
Such were my thoughts and I don't think I was wrong, though I admit it's cruel to think this way when hundreds of civilians are dead and hundreds of thousands are fleeing. It was a short post by Big Pharaoh that made me feel real pity for the Lebanese: his friend, a young Lebanese woman who was demonstrating against Syria, has now fled to Syria (http://www.bigpharaoh.com/2006/07/18/she-fled-to-syria-she-fled-to-syria/).
Perhaps because for me possibly the worst thing that can happen to somebody is - to be forced to speak or act against what he really feels and thinks, against what he is. Loss of identity. Death is of course also awful, but we are all mortals, and if somebody has an identity and keeps it until his last moment, even if his life has been relatively short, people usually say that it has been meaningful.
8 comments:
Lebanon is clearly not capable of taking care of itself. An international force is probably the best way to disarm the Hezbolah.
You are right that a small country like Lebanon cannot hope to defend itself against the regional powers. However, "international force" usually means UN, and everybody knows how good job they do in Lebanon and elsewhere. NATO or US troops are necessary, I think. But in order to have them, Lebanon first has to ask, and here intervenes the famous Arab pride and honour.
Non-Blogging, let me first mention that I have special feeling towards your country because of its contribution to Bulgaria's 1878 liberation and because the Finnish, unlike the Russians, never demanded from us in return to do what they want, or any resources, or even plane gratefulness.
I wouldn't be insulted if you meant seriously what you wrote. With 1 exception, it is quite true and is often presented exactly in this way in public discussions. Some Bulgarians (not me) would be insulted to here it from a foreigner, but I don't think they are right.
Bulgaria didn't resist seriously the Turkish 1393-1396 invasion that joined it to the Ottoman empire. It wasn't even united. Indeed, other nations such as Germans and Italians have passed a similar stage of division io numerous small parts but had the luck not to have Ottoman troops at their gates exactly at this time. This doesn't excuse the stupidity, shortsightedness and cowardice of Bulgarian rulers of that time.
Throughout the nearly 5 centuries of Ottoman rule, Bulgarians made only local and inefficient uprisings. I am not sure that withouth the ouside help in 1877-78 Bulgaria would exist today.
We were not occupied by the Nazis (the only point where you are wrong). We were their ally. I am not proud of this fact.
While we could not prevent our inclusion into the Soviet bloc, it is true that we were the most loyal Soviet puppet state in Eastern Europe. As under the Ottomans, there was no serious and nation-scale resistance as in East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Poland in 1970 and later. We were under pressure to take part in the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia, but could refuse, as Romania did. Also, most of our soldiers in the occupation corpus were send against their will, but some volunteered, because they were offered admission in any University they wanted without candidate student exam.
Of course all the above has its contexts and excuses, but I think that if you resort to excuses to justify your miserable past, you doom yourself to exactly as miserable future.
However, there seems to be one important point where Bulgaria is significantly better that Lebanon. While we were a Soviet satelite, we never protested when the West regarded us as an enemy. The Lebanese, on the contrary, claim that their government is pro-Western because such an impression is good for tourism and trade, and this same government has 1 or 2 ministers from a terrorist organization created and existing to fight the West. The whole South of the Lebanon is given to this force, and the numerous Lebanese Shi'ites support it. This hypocrisy makes me angry.
Your comments are very interesting, I would wish to comment extensively your last one also, but I want to write another post, so - just several brief sentences.
You are amazingly familiar with Bulgarian history (a minor factual mistake doesn't count, actually the treaty for disposition of German troops in Bulgaria was signed 4 hours after the troops had crossed the frontier, so technically we HAVE been occupied). I have very little knowledge of Finnish history. I admire the Finnish resistance against the Soviet Goliath during the Winter war. (I've read that the expression "Molotov cocktail" was coined for bottles of flammable liquid used by the Finnish against the Soviet tanks.) So I have no raw stuff to make a "parody" of Finnish history, but I state again that your "parody" of Bulgarian history was quite accurate and shouldn't offend any reasonable Bulgarian.
Because I value sincerety, clarity and information content more that politeness, I agree that I presumably offend Arabs from time to time. I'm afraid that I am reinforcing the conviction that Bulgarians are Arabophobes able to infect Arab children with HIV. But can I spend all my day (or night) over the keyboard to seek more polite ways to phrase the same things? And don't you think that they will be polite enough only when they are so polite that no criticism is evident?
My excuse is that, first, I wouldn't be offended if somebody criticizes my culture and nation in a similar way, and second, that I still keep much quieter tone than I would if it were my culture, leaving the harsher words for "internal" Arab criticism. You can find an example of such criticism at http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23044 and see for yourself that the author begins well beyond the point where I end!
What I can't figure out is how come NB imply that Lebanon, Bulgaria and Finland are small weak countries but Israel is a big strong one?
You make yourself strong or weak - YOU decide as individual and as a nation.
Without a shadow of a doubt Israel has been attacked from Lebanese territory since before it was founded (first attack by murderous bandids took place in 1947).
Israelis don't have a choise. Hezbollah is like cancer, killing healthy cells and Israel is chemotherapy trying to cure it. If Israel destroys Hezbollah it will help Lebanese, spineless as their government is...
Dear Maya,
I was reading your blog with a lot of interest. Given that I am half Lebanese and half Bulgarian ( very proud of both), made it even more interesting. Although I agree with most points mentioned in your discussions I believe that what your looking at in terms of historical facts are only the results of a much deeper and complex struggles. Usually "smaller" countries are used as disposable tools for achieving world dominance by major players. The real struggle in the Middle East region is not between Hezblollah and Israel nor it is about nationalism or Arab pride. It is about major players like the US, China, Iran, EU .... using the ponds on the chess board to try and gain a bigger share of the world. By this comment of mine I am not undermining the great revolutionary movements in history, however freedom is rarely achieved by great revolutions rather it is granted to ponds that have achieved their objective.
I don’t want you to understand that my comments are in defense of the Lebanese Government or any other party it is just a role that the have to play. It is very easy to voice patriotic slogans but unfortunately those are only there to blur and distract peoples attention from what the real issues are.
Thank you
Dear Maya,
I was reading your blog with a lot of interest. Given that I am half Lebanese and half Bulgarian ( very proud of both), made it even more interesting. Although I agree with most points mentioned in your discussions I believe that what your looking at in terms of historical facts are only the results of a much deeper and complex struggles. Usually "smaller" countries are used as disposable tools for achieving world dominance by major players. The real struggle in the Middle East region is not between Hezblollah and Israel nor it is about nationalism or Arab pride. It is about major players like the US, China, Iran, EU .... using the ponds on the chess board to try and gain a bigger share of the world. By this comment of mine I am not undermining the great revolutionary movements in history, however freedom is rarely achieved by great revolutions rather it is granted to ponds that have achieved their objective.
I don’t want you to understand that my comments are in defense of the Lebanese Government or any other party it is just a role that the have to play. It is very easy to voice patriotic slogans but unfortunately those are only there to blur and distract peoples attention from what the real issues are.
Thank you
Dear Maya,
I was reading your blog with a lot of interest. Given that I am half Lebanese and half Bulgarian ( very proud of both), made it even more interesting. Although I agree with most points mentioned in your discussions I believe that what your looking at in terms of historical facts are only the results of a much deeper and complex struggles. Usually "smaller" countries are used as disposable tools for achieving world dominance by major players. The real struggle in the Middle East region is not between Hezblollah and Israel nor it is about nationalism or Arab pride. It is about major players like the US, China, Iran, EU .... using the ponds on the chess board to try and gain a bigger share of the world. By this comment of mine I am not undermining the great revolutionary movements in history, however freedom is rarely achieved by great revolutions rather it is granted to ponds that have achieved their objective.
I don’t want you to understand that my comments are in defense of the Lebanese Government or any other party it is just a role that the have to play. It is very easy to voice patriotic slogans but unfortunately those are only there to blur and distract peoples attention from what the real issues are.
Thank you
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