{"id":13561,"date":"2012-10-25T08:03:50","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T15:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13561"},"modified":"2012-10-25T08:06:38","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T15:06:38","slug":"is-pomed-following-human-rights-first-by-skirting-human-rights-mission-with-journalism-aimed-at-agitating-sectarian-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13561","title":{"rendered":"Is POMED following Human Rights First by skirting Human Rights Mission with &#8216;journalism&#8217; aimed at agitating Sectarian Division"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Protesters, U.S. Call for the Reformation of Lebanese Government<\/strong><br \/>\n24 October, 2012 &#8211; POMED<\/p>\n<p>March 14 members rallied in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut to protest the bombing assassination of  General Wissam al-Hassan. The group issued a statement saying, \u201cThe fall of Hassan is the ultimate proof of the fall of the Lebanese state and its government. This is a new failure on behalf of this black government. We, as political parties and civil society organizations, have promised that we should not be cowardly, therefore, we will keep going until the end.\u201d State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, \u201cWe need a government that functions well, but more importantly, we need a government that can provide security in the country rather than insecurity, and that can work for a strong, pluralistic, unified Lebanon.\u201d Pressed for specifics, Nuland said that \u201cwe support the process that [Lebanese] President [Suleiman] is undertaking, which is to form a new and responsible government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nicholas Blanford wrote an article that discusses why Lebanon has not been thrust into a new civil war. Despite General al-Hassan\u2019s assassination and the spillover of violence from Syria, Lebanon has remained relatively calm. He pointed out that memories of Lebanon\u2019s 16-year conflict are still raw in the public psyche. Blanford noted that in 1975, Lebanon\u2019s military balance between the factional rivals was more equally matched than it is today. Meanwhile, contemporary \u201cleaders agree on the importance of maintaining stability in Lebanon and not allowing Syria\u2019s woes to trigger domestic violence.\u201d  Echoing that sentiment, Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment\u2019s Middle East Center in Beirut said, \u201cI don\u2019t think there will be a civil war from this assassination because the leaders of March 14 and March 8 do not want instability at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David Schenker wrote a piece arguing that recent developments undermine Hezbollah\u2019s position of influence in Lebanon. Schenker said \u201cthe organization has attempted to enforce ideological hegemony on its Lebanese co-religionists in an effort to assert political monopoly over Lebanon\u2019s Shiite constituency,\u201d which has not been well received. He concludes that  Hezbollah\u2019s support for the regime in Syria is evidence that the organization\u2019s stature will be further diminished once Bashar al-Assad finally falls.  <a href=\"http:\/\/pomed.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/protesters-u-s-call-for-the-reformation-of-lebanese-government.html\/#.UIlQ_fInLzE\" target=\"_blank\">&#8230;more<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SEE Human Rights First article seeking to take an advisory role for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.humanrightsfirst.org\/2012\/10\/18\/steps-towards-greater-unity-in-syrian-opposition-an-opportunity-for-u-s-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">US efforts in Syria <strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"igit_tsb_button\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crookedbough.com%2F%3Fp%3D13561&amp;text=Is+POMED+following+Human+Rights+First+by+skirting+Human+Rights+Mission+with+%27journalism%27+aimed+at+agitating+Sectarian+Division&amp;count=horizontal&amp;via=\" style=\"\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protesters, U.S. Call for the Reformation of Lebanese Government 24 October, 2012 &#8211; POMED March 14 members rallied in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut to protest the bombing assassination of General Wissam al-Hassan. The group issued a statement saying, \u201cThe fall of Hassan is the ultimate proof of the fall of the Lebanese state and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13561#more-'\" class=\"more-link\">more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1348],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13561"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13565,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13561\/revisions\/13565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}