Hariri's Game

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Wednesday February 16, 2005 11:33

by obit

"Mr Lebanon" is dead.

The Lebanon is familiar to many Irish, the former French posession saw the Irish army serve with the United Nations in peace keeping operations throughout the late XX century.

In that time, one man came to epitomise Lebanese politics and further became the richest man in the state. Rafik al Hariri was assasinated in a car bomb on St Valentine's day 2005.

Five times prime minister of Lebanon; he resigned as premier for the last time in October 2004 after differences with the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Hariri was widely credited in the western world with getting Lebanon "back on its feet" after the civil war which ended in 1992. By that is meant he consolidated control of all the major businesses and the Lebanese people for the most part went unshod.

We in indymedia ireland know a lot about the Lebanon.

Hariri's was a rags to riches story. Worth some £2.7 billion by the time of his death, he was born into a poor farming family 60 years ago. After training as an accountant, he journeyed east to the Gulf in the 1970s and then made his fortune in Saudi Arabia, earning the confidence of King Fahd as a contractor and builder. The firm he founded in 1978, Saudi Oger, is now a leading force in major construction projects throughout the world.

His return home to Lebanon in 1983 marked a decade in which the billionaire entrepreneur turned politician and mediated between Lebanese militias which include the illegal Hezbollah and defunct Druze formations, using his Saudi connections. As such he was similar in many ways to neighbouring egyptian educated billionaire Yasser Arafat.

As prime minister, he attracted foreign direct investment to his bankrupt country and set up private firms to rebuild the heart of Beirut, which had been the thriving centre of the Mediterranean in the 1960s. But he very quickly ran the state into crippling debt again.

Rafik al-Hariri was born on November 1 1944 After labouring on fruit farms around Sidon his birthplace, he worked as a trainee accountant in Beirut before emigrating to Saudi Arabia, where he at first taught Arabic and did odd jobs as a book-keeper.

His lucky break came when he joined the construction industry and, after establishing his own firm, came to the attention of Prince Fahd, who succeeded to the throne in the 1980s.

As was proven in Northern Ireland in the 1970s construction is a very good sector for politicians to invest in, especially if there's a war on.

In 1987, Hariri became a Saudi citizen after completing a £78.5 million hotel for an Islamic conference in a record eight months. His construction company is run by his son Saadeddine, along with three other family members who sit on the board, but his commercial empire extends to computers, banking, insurance, real estate, and Lebanon's Future Television.

There is no doubt that Hariri enjoyed his reputation as "Mr Lebanon". When it was once suggested to him that the Lebanese economy would collapse if he died, he replied: "So, keep me alive." Hariri formed five cabinets and served as premier for 10 of the 14 years from 1992 until he stepped down.

Hariri was planning a political comeback in the May 2005 elections, having resigned for the last time as premier following the extension of President Lahoud's term of office, which was secured by a Syrian-backed amendment to the constitution opposed by Hariri.

The extension was in defiance of a UN Security Council resolution that called for a withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and for presidential elections.

As part of the peace process which ended the civil war, Syria continues to keep 15,000 troops stationed in Lebanon. In addition to the native workforce (8% of whom are permenantly unemployed) there are almost one million Syrian migrant workers.

The USA has withcalled its ambassador to Syria in its immediate reaction to the death of Mr Hariri and called on the UN to open an international investigation.

Popular feeling on the streets of Beirut has turned against Syria, with thousands of mourners chating anti-Syrian slogans.

The Spanish foreign minister has said that the killing of Hariri :- "could destabilise the region".

Condolence Rice during her visit to France remarked that Syria must not be tolerated in its destabilisation of the region, has not so far made a comment on recent events in the former French territory and how they effect the road map to peace in the countries of Palestine and Israel to the south of Beirut.

You can search our articles on Lebanon, there over 80 using "the search engine" but here's a good place to start-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=19083&search_text=lebanon&results_offset=60

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Comments (17 of 17)

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Well done

by RJS

Sat Feb 19, 2005 06:49

relevant, fair, concise etc.

On January 14th, 2005, Russia denied reports that it aims to sell Syria anti-aircraft and longer-range missiles.

Yesterday, Russia comes to Iran's aid, saying it believes that Teheran doesn't have a nuclear weapons project.

The Lebanese opposition parties have succeeded their calls for an inquiry.

by basking in the glory - "lucus ad non lucendum"

Mon Feb 21, 2005 14:10

This inquiry will be independent to the criminal investigations and the expected inquiry by the UN which will be independent to the usual inquiries by the FBI and DGSE and Mossad and Syrian security services who are indepedent of each other.
If you'd like to help, you could try making inquiries as well, lebanese mobile phone calls were slashed last year and its very cheap to phone people there now.

who tv reports that tens of thousands of Xians are protesting against Syria

by ,-)

Mon Feb 21, 2005 22:02

on the streets of Lebanon!
who tv has not reported that tens of thousands nay millions protested Bush.
do your bit. go out on the street and protest about something or someone before it's too late.

hairykari

by Balor

Tue Feb 22, 2005 20:04

oh look the syrians are moving their troops out of Lebanon. The Syrian political strategists obviously foresaw this as a likely consequence of the assassination! Now the Lebanese opposition can come to power and establish stronger ties with Israel. So obviously it was in the interest of Assad's regime to have Harari killed.

obit , you bloody thief!!

by not surprised

Wed Feb 23, 2005 02:55

"We in indymedia ireland know a lot about the Lebanon". WHAT A BLOODY LAUGH!!!!

You cogged this article almost word-for-word from Hariri's obituary in the Sunday Indo!!!!

Fair enough, you obviously don't know enough about Lebanon to write it yourself, but at least have the decency to credit the original author, you plagiarising twat.

So RJS's plaudit that it is "relevant, fair and precise" should actually go to the SINDO, seeing as they penned it.

That must be a first on Indymedia, describing SINDO as "relevant, fair and precise"!!!!!!

Then you tell people to go and look up the "over 80 articles on Indymedia"! How quaint. Were they plagiarised too!

the bulk of this obit was filed to the telegraph. the Sunday Indo cut and pasted it. without comment

Wed Feb 23, 2005 04:13

not the sunday indo.
we in indymedia ireland do know a lot about the lebanon, one of our contributors was shot in the leg there.
the comments of the standard obit of Hariri are what makes it worth reading, it has been reduced to 60% of original text with charming new title which cross references to another comment in the newswire exactly five hours before his death, and no less than forty new words which are well chosen and well placed. It has been placed in the other press section which is often carries "C&P" with comments·

you don't really understand either the medium or the media do you?
ever got shot in the leg?

French right wing daily

by le figaro

Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:16

today on "make your statement day" Feb 23,
has quoted very senior Syrian types as saying that Hariri's death had nothing to do with them, and would be a grave tactical error for them and all that.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20050223.FIG0336.html
(forgive the pun)
Nonetheless the Syrians are withdrawing personel from the Lebanon.

Cop on Obit

Wed Feb 23, 2005 13:45

I might understand the media just a little better than you, I think. But that's beside the point.

Since when has getting shot in the leg been a prerequisite for involvement in the media? Since when does that give someone special knowledge? Sounds to me like some idiot who didn't know what he/she was doing.

Trust me, I know Lebanon very well, I've been there many times. So don't patronise me by your claim that just because you use the same anonymous website as some person who got in the way of a bullet in Lebanon, you somehow have an insight into the situation. How many times have you been there? None I bet.

There was nothing insightful in your article, nothing new, just a whole load of armchair journalism and some plain old plagiarism.....

By the way, all of the newspapers would have taken this obituary off a newswire, and edited it for their own publication. They all would have credited the original source. But you didn't, simple as that, and you then allowed gullible gobshites like JSR to believe that you wrote it, which isn't true.

Don't defend the indefensible. You copied the article out of a proper publication. You didn't credit the original author in order to massage your own ego by conning people into thinking you know something about Lebanon, when really you haven't a clue.

It always amazes me to see people profess that 'Indymedia' is a news source when it comes to international issues. It's not, it's a weblog for basket cases (like me and Obit). There is no transparency, no editorial standards, no professionalism, no real news value. It is useful for community groups who don't have access to proper media, but beyond that, it is of no more value than your average barstool conversation.

you take yourself too seriously "cop on"

by copped on long ago.

Thu Feb 24, 2005 13:46

you could instead use this comment space under the obituary, authored "obit" to add new information on Syria instead of picking at indymedia's practise of highlighting in the "other press"section reports and obits from "other press". No-one claimed to have been the original author of the piece, and obviously jokes go beyond you.
If you can help rather than just be a pain, then read other press in arabic, french, et cetera and make the links and build the thread.
The thread began in english with the obit, which was reproduced by established media in the UK Ireland Canada and the USA.
and here is how it is now developing-

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed al-Mualem told reporters on Thursday that Syria is ready to work with the United Nations to
implement a Security Council resolution requiring Syrian troops to leave Lebanon.
Mualem's remarks were the clearest official response Syria has made so far to the
outcry against its role in Lebanon.

The Taif Accord that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war called for a redeployment of
Syrian troops to eastern Lebanon, followed by agreement on a timetable for a full
withdrawal.

The United States and France sponsored a U.N. resolution adopted in September that
demanded a Syrian pullout. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Terje
Roed-Larsen as his special envoy to oversee implementation of the measure.

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he would wait for Syria's
response to the international calls before seeking possible U.N. sanctions against
Damascus.

source:-
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5560495

Now this is what we do, "cop on" collate, sift, cut paste, add comments, jokes, provide a picture of background noise and place it in one easy to read place for the readers of today, and the archivists of tomorrow. If you've anything useful to say, if you've any correction to make to the "obit" then write it.
Otherwise you're just trolling by filling the comment space with unhelpful criticism which would better be addressed to either the Sunday Indo or the Telegraph. If you'd like to pick holes with the syrian or lebanese material in the archive then go to those articles and comment no them.

finally-

Thu Feb 24, 2005 14:11

the Telegraph did not credit an author with the piece.
the Telegraph operates cookies and you ahve to register to read the articles and thus no link would go through, and quite probably it matters little to the "heaps of praise" commenter who wrote the damn thing. I cut it down, I added twenty words, I know about the Lebanon. And so do you. Lets work together. If I want to take credit for something, its generally idiotic satire and wouldn't get published in a newspaper anyway, like who's interested in John Smithies, sick Popes number 43, and the eternal question,- "is tony blair the antichrist?"

now another link-
The Russians have backed down on their earlier decision to provide the Syrians with anti-aircraft upgrades
http://itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=1766147&PageNum=0
you can find the details on that one in the archive.

obit and the other guy

Fri Feb 25, 2005 20:21

I've obviously hit a raw nerve here by pointing out some plain old plagiarism on Indymedia. Sorry if that offends you. Well..... actually..... I'm not sorry at all.

If someone (obit) writes something in a public forum (indymedia), it is open to criticism, no matter how "unhelpful" that is. If you don't want criticism, then don't write anything.

I didn't criticise the info in the piece, I criticised the fact that Obit didn't credit the original source (a newswire), thereby misleading people into believing he/she wrote it. That is equivalent to theft, plain and simple. I've often read people whining on this site that the mainstream media picks up on stuff from Indymedia, but doesn't credit it. Shock horror - it works both ways.

The comments section is for commenting on the piece. That's what I did.

Typical Indymedia - someone criticises the fact that the site doesn't exactly have the best editorial standards, and suddenly people start crying and calling you "unhelpful" and a "troll".

Indymedia is a weblog, nothing more. It doesn't carry international news, it reproduces what professional journalists say in the mainstream press.

Crediting sources is a tenet of public writing. But because Indymedia is a blog for nutters, it doesn't adhere to any tenets.

I fully expect this to be deleted by an "editor" because, as a criticism of Indymedia's "editorial guidelines", it is against the rules.

That is a typical example of selective standards - delete stuff which criticises Indymedia standards, but don't delete stuff which breaks other editorial standards (plagiarism)

mr critical

by eeekkkk

Fri Feb 25, 2005 20:37

look at the loads of links at the bottom of this page.

there is more first hand international news on 'indymedia' than in all of the irish newspapers and tv put together

it is a very international network

oh and because this site operates on a peer review basis - everybody now knows where the obit came from don't they?

well don't they?

everybody appy?

updates-

by shit-stirring

Sun Feb 27, 2005 23:38

Syria has been blamed for the "martyr" attack on Israel when a palestinian student, devout muslim blew themselves up yesterday in an act of murder, suicide and terror aimed at de-railing the latest moves to peace in the Holy Land initiated by Tony Blair, George Bush and the EU in the immediate aftermath of the 11,11,04 death of Arafat.
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=106178®ion=6
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5566934
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/28/content_2626853.htm

Syria for her part has denied the allegations that she was responsible for the "martyr attack" which killed 5 people in total or Harriri's death on Valentine's day.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/27/content_2626645.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1312137.htm

and might i finally add, that this article appeared "2" on the commentator (who's been to lebanon but has nothing new to add) above's google search, becuase he/she were cookied to imc ireland before he/she searched for it. Not only does he/she not understand the media (where obits are reproduced many times throughout the world without credit) , he/she don't understand this media of internet and cybernetics communication.
We call such persistant abusers "trolls".
So stop complaining, if you've really been to Lebanon leave us an interesting link.

and for fans of "conspiracy", here's a link to the secret of Fatima, Fatima as you know was the daughter of the Prophet PBUH and not just a little village in Portugal whose last remaining nun died since the pope went sick on us two days before Harriri went sky high and the same morning that the windsor towers in Madrid burnt down. Oh and ancient greek texts didnt use arabic numbers. like 1-0 or 600 or anything like that.

... world without end. Amen.

your choice - work your freedom - be your media

how to help-

Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:20

Lebanon now enters an election phase,
the thoughtful type who left the cut down obit above has left you all the clues to guess where this story is going.

The pro Syria gov have now quit. you know that.
the pro USA opposition leader billionaire is now dead. you've got that haven't you?

the pacifist "mobile phone crew" have now been credited with a revolution. you missed that didn't you?

You can contribute whatever you want to the global network be passionate, clever, you don't have to write all the words yourself, if its credited put the name of the person you're quoting, if not dot those little "i"s and slash those little "t"s when you come to them.

meow

by Creidhne

Tue Mar 01, 2005 19:13

my cat got stuck up a tree today. I wonder are the Syrian's responsible.

A photo essay about the bombing circulated on Lebanese listsurfs worldwide.

by !mad

Wed Mar 09, 2005 09:43

So far it has been seen in arabic, english and french with the same pictures and layout. It is being circulated heavily on listsurfs especially opposition ones or those pro-Hariri and/or anti-Syria.

it helped mobilise several thousand people from 23/2/05 to 1/3/05 "the cedar revolution".

This was responded to by half a million people yesterday (who according to the IT were organised by Hezbollah, yet they have never got more than twenty thousand together). A vital Little Clue- the druze and syrian migrant workers are being overlooked by commercial pro-american news-sources.

Vital Big Clue: democracy is not established nor helped in its emergence by being either pro- or anti- USA.

link to the whole series "Hariri's Game"

by iosaf

Tue Feb 14, 2006 09:07

Hariri's Game actually began as a comment, an oblique reference to "harry's game" at that time I ocassionally used "harry potter" as an email name, and a prince of that name had got in trouble for dressing up as a nazi. He also was reported as saying he wasn't into his dad remarrying. The announcement was made the same weekend as Hariri blew up, and well "things happened" about the place. We truly do live in a world of shadows.

We are now of course ready for "Hariri's game" (part 9)
the new levant. post Arafat, post Sharon, post Hariri
and with Hizbollah and Hamas in government.
Understanding all that necesitates a lot of homework and reading.

My motto for this whole murky affair was-
non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis tempus eget
=(more or less) these times call for other weapons.
(literally "nor such aid nor defendors does the time require")
Its from Virgil's Aeneid, when the folks in Troy realise the shit is about to hit the fan.
Ye might have seen the movie or hopefully read the book.

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Comments (17 of 17)