[QUOTE="jetpower3"]

[QUOTE="FMAB_GTO"] Well these "ordinary" people are not ordinary,they belong to parties and sects,the ordinary person have at MOST an AK47,no snipers or RPGs,the ones that are fighting are just people belonging to sects that own a lot of guns,and btw most sects and parties in lebanon own weapons hence why the "government" does nothing about it,since it is the "government" itslef that is at fault.FMAB_GTO

I see. So basically there are militias and paramilitary arms of parties (including Hezbollah) that have a lot of weapons and a parallel structure to the state and military structure itself (i.e. states within a state)?

We've all seen how bad war in Lebanon can be. It is for the best I suppose, but I'm not sure how long such fragile harmony could last. I made a point in another thread in how Syria could end up being "Lebanonized" in itself. Now, add the existing fractiousLebanoninto the picture...

[QUOTE="jetpower3"]

[QUOTE="FMAB_GTO"] I know what you mean,besides things are occurring so fast as well.pie-junior

What's the weapon proliferation like there? The fact that ordinary people seem to be actively using things like RPGs and automatic weapons on a whim's notice seems very unusual for a relatively well developed country (although I understand Tripoli is relatively poor).

[QUOTE="jetpower3"]

[QUOTE="FMAB_GTO"] I know what you mean,besides things are occurring so fast as well.FMAB_GTO

What's the weapon proliferation like there? The fact that ordinary people seem to be actively using things like RPGs and automatic weapons on a whim's notice seems very unusual for a relatively well developed country (although I understand Tripoli is relatively poor).

I see. So basically there are militias and paramilitary arms of parties (including Hezbollah) that have a lot of weapons and a parallel structure to the state and military structure itself (i.e. states within a state)? And basically, if you're strong and organized enough to the point where the government is afraid to take you on, you can just do whatever you want (within "reason")?

[QUOTE="jetpower3"]

[QUOTE="FMAB_GTO"]hey a thread about my country woohoo... That happens every while though,may end tonight may not.FMAB_GTO

Isn't this the most serious sustained fighting since Syria's uprising began?

I don't think this event in itself is notable, but in context it seems ominous.

What's the weapon proliferation like there? The fact that ordinary people seem to be actively using things like RPGs and automatic weapons on a whim's notice seems very unusual for a relatively well developed country (although I understand Tripoli is relatively poor).

**** I have someone there...GazaAli

In Tripoli?

hey a thread about my country woohoo... That happens every while though,may end tonight may not.FMAB_GTO

Isn't this the most serious sustained fighting since Syria's uprising began?

I don't think this event in itself is notable, but in context it seems ominous.

Story here.

"TRIPOLI, Lebanon June 2 (Reuters) - Clashes erupted between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding 30, residents and a doctor said.

A Reuters journalist said the two sides fired machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other and that the army moved into the area with armoured vehicles in an attempt to quell the violence but did not open fire.

Gunmen from the Jabal Mohsen district, home to the minority Alawite sect - the same offshoot of Shi'ite Islam to which Assad belongs - have fought on-off skirmishes over the past few weeks with the Sunni Muslim residents of the Bab al-Tabbaneh area."

I see contagion across the entire region surrounding Syria escalating rapidly. Lebanon is especially vulnerable, given its past relationship with Syria and its sharp sectarian divides.

He got a better deal than Gadaffi.

sonicare

Mubarak knew when to fold and not try to rally any real, prolonged resistance. Gaddafi wanted to go out fighting, especially given the location of this last stand.

Eh. The fact that the SCAF hasn't answered to anything about the deaths they've caused makes me think there isn't going to be any real justice for anyone. Just acting as they've always: a state within a state that doesn't answer to anyone. I also think this increasingly looks less like a revolution and more like a military coup d' etat.

"America sends people to prison for just about everything"

I am sorry, but this does not compute. Right or wrong, the major categories of offences seems to be pretty narrow (drugs and violence), with most growth in the prison population coming from the war on drugs in recent years. The reason why the truancy ruling made headlines at all was because it was so unusual.

"We have in America more people in prison than the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height."

More people, maybe, but less per capita (about 800 per 100,000 in Stalin's Soviet Union at its peak). Also, it's a bit misleading to say "correctional supervision" to imply "prison", because more than 2/3 of those are not actually in prison itself, but rather on parole or probation. Many of them probably were previously in prison for extended periods and have a good chance of ending back up there. They are not completely free. But it is still not prison itself.