21 Quotes About Lebanon

1. Bangladesh.. In 1971 .. Kissinger overrode all advice in order to support the Pakistani generals in both their civilian massacre policy in East Bengal and their armed attack on India from West Pakistan.. This led to a moral and political catastrophe the effects of which are still sorely felt. Kissinger’s undisclosed reason for the ‘tilt’ was the supposed but never materialised ‘brokerage’ offered by the dictator Yahya Khan in the course of secret diplomacy between Nixon and China.. Of the new state of Bangladesh, Kissinger remarked coldly that it was ‘a basket case’ before turning his unsolicited expertise elsewhere.2. Chile.. Kissinger had direct personal knowledge of the CIA’s plan to kidnap and murder General René Schneider, the head of the Chilean Armed Forces .. who refused to countenance military intervention in politics. In his hatred for the Allende Government, Kissinger even outdid Richard Helms .. who warned him that a coup in such a stable democracy would be hard to procure. The murder of Schneider nonetheless went ahead, at Kissinger’s urging and with American financing, just between Allende’s election and his confirmation.. This was one of the relatively few times that Mr Kissinger (his success in getting people to call him ‘Doctor’ is greater than that of most PhDs) involved himself in the assassination of a single named individual rather than the slaughter of anonymous thousands. His jocular remark on this occasion–‘ I don’t see why we have to let a country go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible’–suggests he may have been having the best of times..3. Cyprus.. Kissinger approved of the preparations by Greek Cypriot fascists for the murder of President Makarios, and sanctioned the coup which tried to extend the rule of the Athens junta (a favoured client of his) to the island. When despite great waste of life this coup failed in its objective, which was also Kissinger’s, of enforced partition, Kissinger promiscuously switched sides to support an even bloodier intervention by Turkey. Thomas Boyatt .. went to Kissinger in advance of the anti- Makarios putsch and warned him that it could lead to a civil war. ‘Spare me the civics lecture, ’ replied Kissinger, who as you can readily see had an aphorism for all occa . Christopher Hitchens

I am from Lebanon, from Beirut and SaidaI am from the ground underneath my home I am from the trees, the cedar tree I come from Tabouleh and brown eyes, from Karim...Kassar and KassemI come from happiness and culture From "Habibi" and "Hayete"I am from all religions I am from the room beneath the stars. Zeina Kassem

Grief is shameless; it refuses to be ignored. If you let it have its way, it becomes fatal. If you try to remove it piece by piece, it only multiplies like a tumor. And if you try to fight it, it becomes like quicksand; you try to claw your way back to the surface, and for a second you feel the fresh air against your face, thinking you've survived, only to be pulled fiercely back down again, swallowed whole, nothing left. . Zeina Kassem

I wish I had lost an arm or a leg. It would have been much easier than losing a part of my heart, which lives on, but now beats to a different rhythm. Zeina Kassem

It's as though you had lost an arm or leg but still instinctively reach out to feel your missing limb or try to walk again, placing your entire weight on something that no longer is there. Zeina Kassem

I don't think I ever fully understood before now the old saying that goes: "A mother's heart loves her young one until he grows; her ill one until he heals; and her traveler until he returns." I have experienced all kinds of waiting; I've waited for my young to grow and the sick to heal, but I am still waiting on my little traveler and I do not know how long it will be until I see him again. Zeina Kassem

Our dead become the photographs and words we hang on the walls, but they also hang on the walls of our hearts, the windows of our lips, and the sobs in our voices. Zeina Kassem

From cradle to grave, Talal sprinted through life. I never did see a life extinguished so abruptly. Zeina Kassem

That's when it hit me; my sunglasses were buried in the grave where my Talal lay. Yes, my sunglasses were buried with him. But oh, how I wish my eyes had gone with him instead. Zeina Kassem

It's as though you had lost an arm or leg but still instinctively reach out to feel your missing limb or try to walk again, placing your entire weight on something that is no longer is there. Zeina Kassem

The beauty of the sea is that it never shows any weakness and never tires of the countless souls that unleash their broken voices into its secret depths. Zeina Kassem

For Lebanon to have any future, gotta adopt a resolute policy v/s terrorism. Whoever plots against the land should bear the consequences. Ziad K. Abdelnour

Pope John Paul II once said as well, “Lebanon is a message more than it is a country.” Now this diversity has turned into fragmentation and the richness into poverty, awaiting a miraculous remedy. Rami Ollaik

Lebanon is the only country where media kills more than bombs, injures more than guns...and at last they say freedom of speech... Hussein S. Hariri

Of course all such conclusions about appropriate actions against the rich and powerful are based on a fundamental flaw: This is us, and that is them. This crucial principle, deeply embedded in Western culture, suffices to undermine even the most precise analogy and the most impeccable reasoning. Noam Chomsky

Lebanon: the country where everyone wants a piece while we want peace. Sandra Chami Kassis