Reply #51: Whatever the Lebanese want

[Vladimir]

the problem is that after the demonstration by 30,000 odd anti-Syrian protesters, the whole world suddenly acquired the expert 'understanding' that all Lebanese want Syria out. Now, when 500,000 Moslems, Christians and others have marched against the withdrawal, they are seen as some fringe reaction (as Slobodan Milosevic once said of a student rally numbering some 250,000: 'They are a handful of sellouts'). But the really funny thing is, I was listening to an interview on BBC Radio 4 with one of the 'pro-Syrian' protestors, and she emphasised over and over again that they are all for a dialogue and that they are emphatically not protesting against the 'anti-Syrian' demonstrators. So I think the only ones in the whole affair who 'fear' a referendum on the issue are the imperialists desperate to impose a non-existent uniformity of opinion on Lebanon's public...

PS Why the hell would I be 'afraid' of a referendum?! What exactly do I have to fear, sitting on my sofa in Britain, about a Middle Eastern country doing this thing or the other? My ego really isn't quite that big, I assure you...