Reporting From Lebanon

The "Middle East" is the only region of the world still known by its colonial moniker, yet the geographic identifier most salient these days is "the brink:" Iraq is on the brink of civil war, Iran is on the brink of nuclear capability, Palestine is on the brink of bankruptcy and now Lebanon may be on the brink of a coup.

John Bolton, our sharp-elbowed and soon be ex-UN ambassador, has put forth the theory that this assassination may be the first shot fired in a Syrian-led coup d'etat to take back Lebanon.

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For more measured reporting, I highly suggest Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk at the Independent. His weekly diary is a must-read. Here's the link, and a taste of his surgical writing style:

Half a million? 250,000? Crowd figures are as reckless here as in London or Washington. There are few Shia. I can think of only six who are attending this massive service for the dead at St George's Cathedral, which stands next to the great Hariri mosque - and one of these is the Speaker of Parliament.

I had asked Rudi Polikavic to come with me, an old Christian militiaman opposed to the Falange in the civil war, with the scars of three bullets on his neck and arms. I receive a call from a friend, Amira Solh, who is with another Al Arabiya crew, asking where I am in the crowd. "I am on the mosque side of the church," I shout, and Polikavic collapses with laughter. " Fisky," he roars, "that really is the story of Lebanon. Aren't we are all now 'on the mosque side of the church'?"

LINK for rest of article