[middle-east] arab disquiet over hezbollah

Neil Macfarquhar, Damascus
August 5th, 2006

In the Melbourne Age not long ago, there was a very interesting article. What it actually said was par for the course – we all knew that anyway.

The fact that such an article ever saw the light of day illustrates something Hezbollah had no idea would happen – journalists would finally read between the lines and slowly push their editors to print the truth.

"They think they will be the leaders of all Muslims, and I don't want that," a 45-year-old high school maths teacher from Riyadh said. "Hezbollah is Iranian; everyone knows that."

Firstly, Hezbollah are alienating quite substantial sections of the Arab world – please read the Age article.

Secondly, their arrogant manipulation of the western media is slowly backfiring. Of course, Al Beeb will hold out till the end, as will the FCO, but there are ways around the impasse.

This is the power of both mainstream journalism, when it is permitted, and the power of blogging when your traffic is high, as Melanie Phillips’ and Stephen Pollards’ traffic is. Mine is not and yet it’s a little bit to add to the push.