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Nahar Net
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Can Lebanon chart path away from region conflicts after Hezbollah weakening?
Mireille Rebeiz, Dickinson College After a 12-day war launched by Israel and joined briefly by the United States, Iran has emerged weakened and vulnerable. And that has massive implications for another country in the region: Lebanon. Hezbollah, Tehran's main ally in Lebanon, had already lost a lot of its fighters, arsenal and popular support during its own war with Israel in October 2024. Now, Iran's government has little capacity to continue to finance, support and direct Hezbollah in Lebanon like it has done in the past. Compounding this shift away from Hezbollah's influence, the U.S. recently laid down terms for a deal that would see the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in return for the total disarmament of the paramilitary group – a proposal seemingly backed by the Lebanese government. As an expert on Lebanese history and culture, I believe that these changing regional dynamics give the Lebanese state an opening to chart a more neutral orientation and extricate itself from neighboring conflicts that have long exacerbated the divided and fragile country's chronic problems. The shaping of modern Lebanon Ideologically, developments in Iran played a major role in shaping the circumstances in which Hezbollah, the Shiite Islamist political party and paramilitary group, was born. The Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 toppled the widely reviled and corrupt Western-backed monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic. That revolution resonated among the young Shiite population in Lebanon, where a politically sectarian system that was intended to reflect a balanced representation of Muslims and Christians in the country had led to de facto discrimination against underrepresented groups. Since Lebanon's independence from France in 1943, most of the power has been concentrated in the hands of the Maronite Christians and Sunnis, leaving Shiite regions in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley lacking in development projects, social services and infrastructure. At the same time, Lebanon for decades had been irreparably changed by the politics of its powerful neighbor in Israel. In the course of founding its state in 1948, Israel forcibly removed over 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland – what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or "catastophe." Many fled to Lebanon, largely in the country's impoverished south and Bekaa Valley, which became a center of Palestinian resistance to Israel. In 1978, Israel invaded Lebanon to push Palestinian fighters away from its northern borders and put an end to rockets launched from south Lebanon. This fighting included the massacre of many civilians and the displacement of many Lebanese and Palestinians farther north. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon again with the stated purpose of eliminating the Palestinian Liberation Organization that had moved its headquarters to the country's south. An estimated 17,000 to 19,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians and armed personnel were killed during the conflict and the accompanying siege of Beirut. It was in this cauldron of regional and domestic sectarianism and state abandonment that Hezbollah formed as a paramilitary group in 1985, buoyed by Shiite mobilization following the Iranian revolution and Israel's invasion and occupation. Hezbollah's domestic spoiler status Over time and with the continuous support of Iran, Hezbollah become an important player in the Middle East, intervening in the Syrian civil war to support the Assad regime and supporting the Kata'ib Hezbollah, a dominant Iraqi pro-Iranian militia. In 2016, Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah officially recognized Iran's role in funding their activities. With Tehran's support, Hezbollah was effectively able to operate as a state within a state while using its political clout to veto the vast majority of Lebanese parliamentary decisions it opposed. Amid that backdrop, Lebanon endured three long presidential vacuums: from November 2007 to May 2008; from May 2014 to October 2016; and finally from October 2022 to January 2024. Lebanon also witnessed a series of political assassinations from 2005 to 2021 that targeted politicians, academics, journalists and other figures who criticized Hezbollah. How the equation has changed It would be an understatement, then, to say that Hezbollah's and Iran's weakened positions as a result of their respective conflicts with Israel since late 2023 create major political ramifications for Lebanon. The most recent vacuum at the presidential level ended amid Hezbollah's military losses against Israel, with Lebanon electing the former army commander Joseph Aoun as president. Meanwhile, despite the threat of violence, the Lebanese opposition to Hezbollah, which consists of members of parliament and public figures, has increased its criticism of Hezbollah, openly denouncing its leadership and calling for Lebanon's political neutrality. These dissenting voices emerged cautiously during the Syrian civil war in 2011 and have grown after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent war on Gaza. During the latest Israel-Iran war, the Lebanese opposition felt emboldened to reiterate its call for neutrality. Enabled by the U.S's growing tutelage over Lebanon, some opposition figures have even called to normalize relations with Israel. These efforts to keep Lebanon out of the circle of violence are not negligible. In the past, they would have been attacked by Hezbollah and its supporters for what they would have considered high treason. Today, they represent new movement for how leaders are conceiving of politics domestically and diplomacy across the region. The critical regional context going forward As the political system cautiously changes, Hezbollah is facing unprecedented financial challenges and is unable to meet its fighters' needs and the promise to rebuild war-destroyed homes. And with its own serious internal challenges, Iran now has much less ability to meaningfully support Hezbollah from abroad. But none of that means that Hezbollah is defeated as a political and military force, particularly as ongoing skirmishes with Israel give the group an external pretext. The Hezbollah-Israel war ended with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France on Nov. 27, 2024. However, Israel has been attacking south Lebanon on an almost daily basis, including three incidents over the course of 10 days from late June to early July that have left several people dead and more than a dozen wounded. Amid these violations, Hezbollah continues to refuse to disarm and still casts itself as the only defender of Lebanon's territorial integrity, again undermining the power of the Lebanese army and state. Lebanon's other neighbor, Syria, will also be critical. The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 diminished Hezbollah's powers in the region and land access to Iraq and Iran. And the new Syrian leadership is not interested in supporting the Iranian Shiite ideology in the region but rather in empowering the Sunni community, one that was oppressed under the Assad dictatorship. While it's too early to say, border tensions might translate into sectarian violence in Lebanon or even potential land loss. Yet the new Syrian government also has a different approach toward its neighbors than its predecessor. After decades of hostility, Syria seems to be opting for diplomacy with Israel rather than war. It is unclear what these negotiations will entail and how they will impact Lebanon and Hezbollah. However, there are real concerns about new borders in the region. The U.S. as ever will play a major role in next steps in Lebanon and the region. The U.S. has been pressing Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, and the U.S Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack said he was "unbelievably satisfied" by Lebanon's response thus far. But so far, there has been no fundamental shift on that front. Meanwhile, despite the calls for neutrality and the U.S. pressure on Lebanon, it is hard to envision a new and neutral Lebanon without some serious changes in the region. Any future course for Lebanon will still first require progress toward peace in Gaza and ensuring Iran commits not to use Hezbollah as a proxy in the future. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here:
Daily Maverick
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
National Arts Festival: Afropocalypse Now!
Robin K Crigler is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. He is currently working on his first books, Inevitable Satirists: Histories of South African Humour, 1910-1965, and a biography of the apartheid-era satirist Casey Motsisi. His chapter on modern South African stand-up comedy appears in Izuu Nwankwọ's collection Stand-Up Comedy in Africa: Humour in Popular Languages and Media (Ibidem Press, 2022). I think this is the year I officially became a National Arts Festival bittereinder. My first National Arts Festival was in 2016, and when I tell people that, they seem genuinely impressed (not just as an American) that I've stuck with it so long. Outside the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, I've only missed one Fest since – in 2018. When you tell a fellow NAF veteran this, let's say, over a glühwein at the Long Table, they often wax poetic about how wonderful the festival used to be – back before the pandemic, before there was no water, before the potholes, when the robots on High Street always worked. advertisement Don't want to see this? Remove ads I don't remember a time before the potholes and the water problems, but I get it. The festival has definitely shrunk. What happened to watching comedy at the Drill Hall? The Bowling Club? Jazz at the Dakawa Art Centre? These used to be big venues! And while I saw my share of well-attended and even sold-out shows, there were also times when you wondered whether all the fuss was worth it. Take my friends with Spark in the Dark Productions. They decided to do it big this year – crazy big, wildly ambitious, even. They brought 14 shows to the festival – comedy, drama, children's theatre, clowning, you name it. They raised R100,000 through a crowdfunding platform to make it happen, and they took over a whole venue – the Gymnasium – for the duration of the festival. They renamed it the SparkHub and brought a fancy LED sign. After sinking so much time and treasure into the mission, on the very first evening of the festival, the power went out. Classic Makhanda! It was a localised power outage; it only affected the part of town around the SparkHub. They scrambled to reschedule. Some shows, with complex lighting designs or original music, got postponed. Others soldiered bravely on with the help of portable load shedding lights. I wasn't yet in Makhanda when all this went down, but hearing about it broke my heart. The power outage continued for 24 hours. How utterly futile to squeeze water from a stone in this God-forsaken town! And yet. And yet, 15 minutes before Céline Tshika's Bad African was supposed to go up, with the star not knowing whether she would have to sing all her songs a cappella in the dark, the lights came back. Through the tender mercies of the Makana Local Municipality, they stayed on. But what exactly was it that those lights illuminated? I loved everything coming out of the SparkHub this Fest (and I am biased, because I love and admire so many of the people involved over there), but I also can't stop thinking about the Market Theatre Lab's production, Afropocalypse. I don't think I've ever seen physical theatre that thrilled and moved me as much as that piece, which takes place in an over-the-top, post-apocalyptic world. The performers are a ragged troupe of theatre-makers who protect a mysterious computer-looking thing, uGogo, which seems to be the last repository of stories on Earth. When threatened, they hide her under one of the giant canvas bags you see waste-pickers carting around Johannesburg every day in the hot sun. The tales the actors tell are stories of overconsumption, hunger and destruction – complex metaphors for everything from apartheid to climate change. But I found it hard to watch the performers without thinking of them as what they were in real life – a group of incredibly inventive and gifted artists who insist upon performing to a world that feels desolate, hostile and in the process of collapse. advertisement Don't want to see this? Remove ads I thought about Makhanda, with its obvious issues, but I also thought about Newtown in central Johannesburg where the physical Market Theatre is located: a place of erstwhile hopes crushed by years of neglect, mismanagement and decay. I thought of my own country, the US, where relative material wealth has done nothing to slow our retreat inward towards monstrous levels of anger, greed and arrogance. The forces of destruction in Makhanda and Johannesburg are only superficially distinct from the ones ravaging my home. The hope you can take away from Afropocalypse, if there is any, is that artists will not stop making art, no matter the circumstances. Even if they're missing eyes, legs and teeth. Even if the audiences can only pay them – as they do in the show – by donating their laughter, tears and blood. The storytellers will still be there, somehow, some way. No, it's important that we keep coming to Makhanda. Traipsing out to 'Frontier Country' with sets and costumes and bottled water and copious supplies of Med-Lemon in tow is not a ritual we can afford to discard. Makhanda, especially in its current state, is the front line of battle between beauty and the void. Every Afropocalypse, every Raunchy Rendition and every stand-up show is a barricade against the night, a choice that we will not die alone doomscrolling in our bedrooms. advertisement Don't want to see this? Remove ads If we must succumb, we will do it together, shoulder to shoulder – laughing and crying, things that computers cannot yet do for us. Once you look at it like this, you realise that Makhanda might actually be the centre of the universe, donkey jokes aside. That's the energy I tried to bring as an audience member. It's the energy people like the team behind Spark in the Dark have, and it's certainly the energy the people in Afropocalypse oozed from every pore. Fuelled by glühwein and Kaiser's kartoffels from the Village Green, the storytellers are trying to save us all. DM
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pa. leaders vow to protect protesters' rights but warn about giving in to anger and violence
Union members and supporters rally in Grand Park calling for the release of union leader David Huerta, who was arrested during an immigration enforcement action on June 9, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by) Ahead of a day of national protest against the Trump administration's deportation tactics and deployment of troops to Los Angeles to quell resistance, Pennsylvania leaders and scholars cautioned against allowing anger to set the tone. 'We can't allow ourselves to be moved by our emotions, because the anger that is being provoked, there's a reason for it,' Kenneth Nuriddin, resident imam of The Philadelphia Masjid said Thursday. He warned protestors that yielding to violence would distract from their message and justify a violent government response. America's immigrant communities have reasons to be angry, Nuriddin, who is the mosque's spiritual leader, said. He spoke at a news conference Thursday with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner before a planned protest Saturday in the city. 'There's a promise — give me your tired, your poor — that is in the harbor in New York City, inviting people to come. And many people have come because of that invitation,' Nuriddin said, adding the promise has been broken and the invitation rescinded. Philadelphia is one of hundreds of cities where a partnership of labor, Democratic and anti-Trump organizations have planned non-violent demonstrations to counter the unprecedented military parade Saturday in Washington, D.C., set to coincide with President Donald Trump's birthday. Krasner vowed to protect the rights of those who protest lawfully in Philadelphia. 'That is our oath,' Krasner said. 'But, we will also hold accountable anyone and everyone, whether they are uniformed ICE agents or opportunistic criminals.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Gov. Josh Shapiro emphasized his support of protesters' First Amendment rights, while issuing his own warning against criminal activity. Shapiro said he's working with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker's office and law enforcement. State and local police will also be coordinating. 'The right to peacefully protest and exercise our First Amendment is a sacred American right — and here in Pennsylvania, we will always protect it,' Shapiro said. But he added, 'I want to be very clear: all protests and demonstrations must remain peaceful, lawful, and orderly. Violence is not an answer to any political differences. Destruction and chaos are unacceptable — and neither will be permitted here in Pennsylvania.' Dickinson College President John E. Jones III , who is a retired federal judge, told the Capital-Star he fears Trump's willingness to use military force to tamp down opposition could lead to a tragedy like the massacre at Kent State in 1970 by Ohio National Guard troops who shot and killed four and wounded nine unarmed student protesters. 'We're a military gunshot away from a sort of national crisis,' Jones said, noting that troops are forbidden from carrying out civilian law enforcement in the United States because they're not trained for it. 'You're relying on hundreds of troops to hold their fire in the face of hostile activity and maybe even demonstrations that bait them,' Jones said. 'It only takes one to fire in a fit of anger or apprehension and we've crossed a line that will be very difficult to return from. Since President Trump took the oath of office for the second time in January, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has conducted raids across the nation. Such tactics have been standard in other administrations for decades. But those conducted in the last six months have been more aggressive, with agents in unmarked vehicles wearing face coverings targeting workers, foreign students and those with pending immigration cases. Public outrage over the raids reached a boil in the last week as protesters in Los Angeles clashed with law enforcement and Trump responded by deploying National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into the city. And it reached a new crescendo among elected leaders Thursday as California Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was shoved to the floor and handcuffed by FBI agents after he attempted to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem questions, while she was holding a news conference in LA. The FBI said in a statement that Padilla, who interrupted Noem's formal remarks, was not wearing his Senate security pin, which law enforcement uses to quickly identify lawmakers. But he was released after being identified. Padilla's fellow lawmakers condemned the administration's treatment of the senator. 'It's horrible. It is shocking at every level. And it's not the America I know,' U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told reporters. Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said in a tweet he was sad to see what happened to Padilla, who 'deserved much better.' 'We collectively must turn the temperature down and find a better way forward for our nation,' Fetterman's tweet said. Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-2nd District) called videos of the incident 'terrible and frightening,' in a tweet. 'If the Trump regime can do this to a sitting United States Senator, then truly no American is safe,' Boyle's tweet said. Retired Duquesne University constitutional law professor Bruce Ledewitz told the Capital-Star while the Trump administration's reaction to Padilla confronting Noem is unfortunate, he described it as 'performative fascism.' 'This is Trump clearly indicating to the executive branch that, 'We want to look tough. We want to look mean,'' Ledewitz said 'He means this to be a performance. He doesn't mean anyone to get hurt.' Ledewitz said the incident doesn't rise to the level of a constitutional crisis, noting that while members of Congress are cloaked with the immunity to liability for their speech and actions in the performance of their duties, the Speech and Debate clause 'doesn't include interrupting press conferences.' Jones offered the same assessment of Padilla's Speech and Debate protections. 'In my experience that hasn't extended to the kind of statements that triggered, literally triggered, FBI agents to push him to the floor and put him in handcuffs,' Jones said. While Padilla might have a claim under the Fourth Amendment against excessive force he could raise in a civil lawsuit, Jones said he's doubtful that would be worth the lawmaker's effort. Nonetheless, there was no justification for the reaction to Padilla's attempt to question Noem, Jones said. He noted that he recently has spoken out against the rhetoric Trump adviser Stephen Miller and others have used to attack judges. 'Although I would wish for someone high in the administration to make a statement to try to ratchet down the overheated climate, I was fairly certain that would not happen,' Jones said, adding that entreaties like those from Krasner and the clergy who joined him Thursday are unlikely to stop it. 'I think it's going to be a long, hot summer,' he said. Capital-Star reporter Ian Karbal contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Art show opens with 302 works and daily prizes
The Franklin County Art Alliance opened its 53rd Annual Exhibition, at Calvary United Methodist Church, 150 Norlo Drive, Fayetteville, on June 8 with a reception and award ceremony, according to a community announcement. Best of Show was awarded to Linda Best of Fort Loudon. More than $2,500 in additional awards were given to artists from Franklin and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania and Washington County, Maryland. The judging panel included Dickinson College art faculty members Emily Lehman and Ty Vandover. The exhibition will be on display until Thursday, June 12, from 2 to 7 p.m. at the church. Daily door prizes will be awarded. The show features 302 works by 85 local artists, with original artworks by Franklin County Art Alliance members, including last year's Best of Show winner Cindy Roberts Downs of Clear Spring. For more information, call 717-816-7568. This story was created by Janis Reeser, jreeser@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at or share your thoughts at with our News Automation and AI team. The Public Opinion, The Record Herald, Echo-Pilot are growing their local news This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Award-winning art and daily prizes await at 53rd annual exhibition
Axios
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Colorado's rattlesnake "mega den" is back on livestream
Project RattleCam is back, meaning you can now take a ssssneak peek inside Colorado's "mega den," where hundreds (and possibly thousands) of prairie rattlesnakes are emerging from their winter slumber. Why it matters: The livestream, in its second year, offers a rare, up-close look at the lives of one of nature's most misunderstood creatures — showing them sunbathing, snuggling and even giving birth. (And yes, rattlesnakes do like to cuddle.) How it works: Researchers from California Polytechnic State University and Dickinson College in Pennsylvania are behind the effort to study these snakes and "show them off to everyone around the world," Owen Bachhuber, a Cal Poly graduate student involved with the project, tells Axios Denver. The livestream is captured through one stationary tripod camera that's manually operated by researchers throughout the day. The den's location is a tightly held secret (somewhere near Fort Collins, per KUNC) to protect the snakes. The project is made possible through donations, which are "so important right now when the federal government is cutting science [funding] in every place it can," Bachhuber says. Zoom in: Two dozen slithering serpents are named and tracked, each with a distinct personality and appearance. Lasagna, for example, is known for folding her body "like a big pan of lasagna" alongside her pal Ramen. "Noodles hang with noodles!" her bio reads. Stubby is missing a tail but remains "brave and resilient." Twitchy is "a ladies man" who "love[s] to put on a show" and, true to his name, gets fidgety when females are around. Fun fact: A live chat lets you talk with fellow viewers about snake behavior and soap opera-level drama in real time. The intrigue: In the spring and summer, the den acts as a "rookery" or nursery — meaning most snakes you see on the livestream are pregnant females, Bachhuber says. The big picture: Western films and viral videos have painted rattlesnakes as aggressive, mindless loners — but Bachhuber say that's misleading. Most of the time, snakes are calm, social and surprisingly complex. RattleCam aims to rewrite that narrative — not just for science, but to help people and snakes safely coexist. What's next: Dozens of pregnant snakes are expected to give birth later this summer. Females carry for three to four months and typically deliver eight to 17 live babies.
