The primary justification Syria uses for maintaining their presence in Lebanon is security. They claim to be stabalizing the area after a bloody civil war that ended 15 years ago. But a recent UN fact finding report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri concludes:
"Lebanese security services and Syrian military intelligence bear the primary responsibility for the lack of security, protection, law and order in Lebanon."
And while the UN report does not claim to have enough evidence to blame anyone specifically for the assassination, it notes that Syria's President Assad threatened Hariri with physical harm if he did not get in line and support Syria's continued occupation of the country.
The main reason why the UN's report was not more specific is because they were not granted the right to subpoena witnesses and had to rely on internal investigations made by the Syrian security forces to suppliment what they could dig up on their own. Lebanon's pro-Syrian President responded to the report by calling for an international, independent investigation. And while this is a shift in the official position, Lebanese Nationalist leader Walid Jumblatt, a Druze, responded that the Syrian-backed security chiefs should resign so that a full investigation could take place.
"It is not possible to carry out a just, serious, clear and transparent investigation if the heads of the agencies remain in their place."
Why not remove them? Its pretty obvious Syria is no longer acting to prevent unrest and increase stability in the country.
If they ever did....
In other Democracy news, after successfully throwing out a man who won a severly tainted election in Kyrgyzstan, pro-Democracy protestors are not accepting his replacement either. Thousands planned to march today in support of new, clean elections. The Parliament has set June 26th as the date for these new elections.
Arthur Chrenkoff has more.
In neighboring Belarus, thousands march to protest the Soviet-style government there. But here, pro-Democracy forces were met with Soviet-style resistence.
The Belarussian Foreign Ministry assailed the Kyrgyz opposition, warning that protests that drove Kyrgyzstan's longtime leader, Askar Akayev, from power could destabilize the entire Central Asian region.
Well, if you consider autocratic rule by despots to be a sign of stability, then it would seem that more instability is precisely what's needed. However, it seems clear that the current government in Belarus is going to be a tough nut to crack.
The Gateway Pundit has more (via Instapundit)
In Iran, a soccer match provided the excuse for anti-government demonstrations. After the Iranian soccer team defeated Japan, the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran reports that
Several demonstrators have been killed and hundreds have been injured or arrested in most Iranian cities, especially in the Capital,
While they claim that the Iranian government is admitting to three deaths.
In Taiwan, hundreds of thousands take to the streets to protest China's new law that allows it to use military force to prevent the island nation from seceeding.
"China is a violent country. We want nothing to do with it," said protester Wu Chao-hsiung, a carpenter from Taipei. "We have to insist on the freedom to determine our own fate."
I didn't think they'd do it, but it seems I was wrong.
Good on them.
Meanwhile in France, the government is being blackmailed by terrorists again. After paying to get journalists released in Iraq, terrorists are now threatening attacks in France if they are not paid money. Now France has always been a supporter of terrorists, most natably Arafat and his criminal organization, but this raises the term "donar nation" to a whole new level.
Maybe the more appropriate term now is "mark".
In Iraq, the Financial Times reports that the "insurgents" are looking for an exit strategy. Beautiful. And Blackfive reports that women in combat situations are doing just fine thank you.
Arthur Chrenkoff has a report on the Tsunami relief status three months on...
