Saturday, March 23, 2013

Anne Barnard: reporting on Lebanon from Lebanon, this time

Having been reporting on Syria from Lebanon (citing Israeli sources), Anne Barnard (for a change) is today reporting on Lebanon from Lebanon.  An improvement indeed. But read this piece: every reference to unnamed "analyst" (does not) conceal her Hariri media sources.    And she makes no reference to Miqati's growing relations with the House of Saud through Prince Bandar, who now commands March 14 plus Jumblat plus Miqati plus Sulayman (and the latter has been enjoying Saudi and Qatari bribes as of late).   But she also does not tell readers that Miqatri has been (like Hariri) a lackey of Syrian intelligence for years, and that Syrian intelligence intorduced him into the Lebanese political scene.  She also does not mention that he made his fortune through monopolistic contracts with elements in the corrupt Syrian regime.  But by far the funnies part of the article is this:  "General Rifi was a main figure in the Internal Security Forces and whose clout and expertise will be difficult to replace."  How funny is that? I mean, she does not even try to conceal the Hariri media office press releases leaking in every word of this piece.  Expertise and clout? There is no expert in Lebanon except Mr. Rifi?  Is it about clout or about his ties to the House of Saud, especially that he is a board member of the Prince Nayif University for Security and Torture Studies.  Anne Barnard on Lebanon: is either ignorant who does not know any of this, or she knows all this but views her mission as mere propaganda, just as her missing in writing about Syria. In either case, she is not qualified.  Finally, the resignation of Miqati is a Saudi decision, and was delivered by Prince Bandar through Jumblat.