I was putting together some pictures to do a "Hotties of the Cedar Revolution" thread but then that guy did that little grouping and I didn't want to look like I was just running with his idea so I pitched it. But damn, I keep running across these pictures, and what the hell, it's a Friday, slow news day and I have to leave in a bit so:
AFP got a better shot than AP did Just to be fair and balanced, here's the Syrian counter-demonstration.
What's the over and under on how long this bunch of peasant beaters can stand up to the 82nd Airborne?
On a serious note, Hezbollah's decision to support Syria is going to be a major challenge for the opposition. Sachin
It's clear the photographers are having a good time too. These pictures must be selling. The Syrian "Rent-A-Crowd" effort isn't quite as photogenic This guy tried to get some chants going, but "2-4-6-8, Let's let Assad Eviscerate" just didn't catch on. Seriously, this guy standing there with a picture of that murdering old street thug really isn't convincing.
In the next day or so, Hezbollah is going to lower the boom on these kids. They know it better than you or I, but they're still out there. The astonishing news today is that France has moved a support ship into the Eastern Med. It's a ship normally used to support up to 200 commandos. They have a historic connection with Lebanon and while I have no respect whatever for them, Chirac may very well be willing to fight.
No question about it. (Sorry I didn't see this before) They're going to say that until Israel is defeated they need Syrian support in the struggle blah, blah, blah. Mostly they're in the bag for Iran, who foots all the bills. Syria has no oil, and so have to steal and sell drugs. Big Hezbollah demonstrations tomorrow - it has the potential to get ugly. Interesting development an hour or so ago: AFP pushed a story (French only at this point) saying that Syria will completely withdraw from Lebanon before June. I can't believe they will abandon Iraq;s BioChem weapons that are buried in the Bakaa. Maybe the Saudis are footing the bill here somehow. Either way, the entire world wants Syria out, and the Taef agreement ain't gonna cut it any more. It's going to be interesting.
Hezbollah has ginned up an enormous crowd in Beirut today. Estimates are upwards of 250,000. Between Iranian money, Syrian police and Shiite clerics, they can turn 'em out. Hezbollah will be the big loser when Syria finally leaves. Their political power will diminish severely, and they aren't going to give it up easily.
One good thing about this is it flushes out the "we are really supporters of democracy just against Bush" style of leftists.
Brings up a good point. Since France is on board and apparently most of the world, does that mean that the American liberals will have to....dare I say...support Bush on this one???
Not to go Godwin with this, but isn't holding up both Lebanese flags AND pics of Assad at something like this make as much sense as waving an Austrian flag during Hitler's 1938 visit to Vienna?
Good point. "Thank You SYria and Assad for Sending your Army to Run our COuntry" is not one of your better rallying cries.
While the pro-Syria demonstratiln was impressive, note that (1) it seemed to have been mostly men and (2) unlike the seemingly happy anti-Syrian demonstration, the pro-Syrian demonstration was angry.