mark- I don't know if you'll catch this at duck of minerva

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93244

You had said that hezbollahs being armed was a threat to the stability of lebanon. I thought it was plausible considering their history of civil war so I asked at this board. it generated a fair amount of responses if you are interested check it out.
 

Thank you Lester - I'll check it in the a.m.
 

I just looked at it, very interesting, particularly given the apparent Shiite presence on the board.

I'd agree with the poster that Hezbollah is deeply integrated with the Lebanese Shiite community, though Amal, from what I have read, also has a large popular base. Hezbollah are also riding high, politically speaking, right now due to their successes in the field against the IDF( those who say Hezb. "lost" are pushing spin).

OTOH, my memory of the 1980's is quite clear. I'm glad Lebanon settled down but it's wise to recall that Aoun, Jumblatt, Berri etc. are ( like Nasrallah) former sectarian warlords. Jumblatt in particular is a wily and dangerous man.

Be interesting to have the input of Lounsbury and Tom Scudder at Aqoul on this as they are (unlike myself) Arabic-speakers and have lived/currently live in Lebanon.
 

I'm sorta burnt out on experts myself.