Tuesday, November 21, 2006

It is only fair that I say a word about the Lebanese Gemayyel family. No one family in Lebanon has made more contributions to the formulation of a Lebanese version of fascism than this family. Really. In this respect, one has to note that Pierre Gemayyel (the grandfather), and his son Bashir has made great efforts (with the help of Israel) to create a fascist movement for Lebanon modeled after the Nazi party. (As you may recall--search the archives below--Pierre Gemayyel (the grandfather of the assassinated minister--created the Phalanges Party after being impressed with the Nazi party when he observed it during the Olympic games of 1936.) The grandson, Pierre, had no influence in Lebanese politics, and his party, the Phalanges, has become marginal and insignificant. In fact, he was brought into the cabinet by the Harriri dynasty because they were trying to avoid appointing ministers who have bigger standing among Lebanese Christians (like the `Awn movement).