Hazem Saghiyeh

There is obvious confusion in the “resistance front.” The exaggerated concern with the Jamal al-Jarrah’s “conspiracy” is evidence of this. It is also indicated by the attempt to breathe life into the WikiLeaks cables, which have faded a great deal and are now merely entertainment of the kind provided by crossword puzzles. Even talk of “resistance” and “impregnability,” including Hassan Nasrallah’s last speech, appears to come from a distant time.

More than this, confusion emerges in other forms: What is the actual stance on what is happening in Syria? How are we dealing with other popular uprisings in the Arab world? This topic has, in its turn, obvious signs of confusion.

There was the attack by a quasi-official Syrian television channel on Azmi Bishara, whose identity has apparently changed overnight from “Arab intellectual” to “Israeli MP.” Al-Manar hosted a leader of the Egyptian Wassat Party who, instead of talking about Egypt, talked – with biting criticism – about Syria. The affair ended disgracefully.

This confusion – among the resisting Lebanese specifically – is compounded by Najib Mikati's inability to form a cabinet at a time when it is impossible to accuse March 14 of obstructing formation.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah's secretary general and some journalists have introduced the phrases “March 14 does not excel at reading events” and that it “miscalculates.” This is perhaps true. But the resisters, it appears, have miscalculated in much greater and graver matters. Here lies the greatest source of their present confusion.

They calculated that the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions would burn American flags in the squares and that the latter would abolish Camp David – at least this is what Iran's leaders told us. However, these predictions have not been fulfilled at all.

They calculated – as Assad said in his interview with The Wall Street Journal – that Syria would remain stable because of its foreign policy of resistance. This was obviously a fairy tale.

They calculated that the West would lose more positions, as happened with Gaza under Hamas. But the West, represented by all its effective forces, is now present in Libya at the request of the people themselves.

They calculated that the masses in the Arab cities would not take to the streets without chanting “Resistance, Resistance” and demanding arms. Yet they are chanting “peacefulness, peacefulness.”

They calculated that Al-Jazeera would remain their “tongue” in hard times. But they lost Al-Jazeera and the Qatari emir went to Washington to thank Barack Obama and the United States for “supporting democracy” in the region.
Anyone who reads and calculates like this deserves only pity.