HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: medawar@prism.poly.edu (Bassem Medawar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Elections and deputies
Date: 22 Aug 92 16:32:22 GMT
Organization: Polytechnic University, New York

In article <1992Aug19.144557.5945@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu> rached@sample.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rached Zantout) writes:
[..]
>If it comes to me, whether there are any or no outside force I will not
>vote for a DEPUTY who left the country and lives in France for (how many
>years ? 10 ?). He does not represent me, he may represent the opinion of
>those who live near him in France. For me MY DEPUTY should at least see,
>if not feel, what I am going through for him to be able to cast a vote in
>favor or against something crucial to me.

No insult intended, Rached, what are you going through in Ohio that a deputy
who stayed in Lebanon should know about?  Also, if we extend your logic to you,
then you can only run for the post of the deputy if you intend to represent
the people "near" you in Ohio.

>Instead those "self exiled" dputies are taking our money and spending it
>outside. Then when workers want to increase their wages, he will not even
>come to discuss it and workers will starve. But when it is time for increasing
>his salary he wil be there regardless of political situations.

Some deputies have legitimate reasons to self exile themselves, they feel
threatened if they stayed and coerced to vote against their principles and the
principles that the people elected them on (let's make believe that deputies in
1972 were really elected based on their principles for the sake of 
argument).  If you were a deputy of the 1972 parliament, would you have 
resigned because you were forced to take refuge in a foreign country?  Deputies
who have remained and participated in the staged parliamentary elections have 
tainted themselves.  So it is damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Note, I am not trying to defend anyone.  IMHO a politician is a crook by
definition.  I just want to say that it is not a black and white issue:
you stayed you're good, you went abroad, you're bad.  You and I are abroad.
Are we bad?  We're just lucky.

[..]
>The above questions proove that the honesty of the elections is not the issue 
>here. The issue is rather that masters of our leaders are still very much in
>control and are playing with them as "puppets". The only victim here is the
>people who are starving with the skyroketting Lira.

I couldn't agree more.. but for different reasons.  I think (I admit I am 
biased) that the dishonesty of the elections is a foregone conclusion (under
current circumstances).  

>
>rached

bassem
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: alami@McRCIM.McGill.EDU (Wassim Alami)
Subject: Re: Postcard from Nahribrahim on liasun3.epfl.ch (GIF)
Originator: alami@ice.mcrcim.mcgill.edu
Organization: McGill Research Centre for  Intelligent Machines
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 05:21:25 GMT


In article <1992Aug12.220226.23464@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu>, rached@sample.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rached Zantout) writes:
|> 
|> I tried logging in as "anonymous" or "guest", the system refused me, Is there
|> something special ? or am I missing something ?
|> 
|> rached

Rached, you just ftp the files from the directory:

ftp liasun3.epfl.ch
Name (liasun3.epfl.ch:alami): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password.
Password:

binary
get ...


Wassim
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: borrel@dhhalden.no (Borre Ludvigsen)
Subject: Pictures, texts and sounds from Lebanon available.
Reply-To: borrel@dhhalden.no (Borre Ludvigsen)
Organization: Ostfold College
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 16:55:42 GMT

                  ** Pictures, texts and sounds from Lebanon **

This is a overview of the /users/choueiry directory of the
liasun3.epfl.ch anonymous ftp server. This area is a cultural
repository of texts, images, sounds and animations related to Lebanon
and the Middle East in the form of a hitch-hiker's multimedia server.

(See the general remarks at the end of this message.)

Read these first!

/users/choueiry/README.etq
/users/choueiry/README.ftp
/users/choueiry/README.gif
/users/choueiry/README.msg
/users/choueiry/README.snd
/users/choueiry/README.uu

General description of contents (August 19, 1992):

/users/choueiry/*
    miscellaneous graphics images
/users/choueiry/aleppo-Syria
    recent photographs from Aleppo and Syria
/users/choueiry/bin
    sound utilities for IBM PC, Mac and Unix
/users/choueiry/bonfils
    photographs from Lebanon 1870-1900
/users/choueiry/fairuz
    songs (soundbytes), songtext, pictures and animation of and by Fairuz
/users/choueiry/hajj-92
    graphics images from this year's Haj
/users/choueiry/maps
    maps of Lebanon, general and detailed
/users/choueiry/sahrathub
    songs (soundbytes) with Fairuz and Wadi el Safi
/users/choueiry/samiraToufiq
    soundbytes and animations of/by Samira Toufiq
/users/choueiry/umKoulthoum
    soundbytes, song texts (as gifs) of several Um Kalthoum songs
/users/choueiry/wadielsafi
    soundbytes by Wadi el Safi

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a purely experimental server maintained on a voluntary
basis by individuals whos contributions are made on their spare time.
Therefore, no support in the use of this server is given by the staff
of epfl. If you cannot find the help you need in the README files,
refer to the sysop of your local system for help. As for support from
contributors to this server, use them only as a last resort.

Before attempting to download or reading any of the files on this
server, we ask you *please to read the REAME files*.

File types are as follows, remember to set the correct transfer mode
and note the filesize before downloading:

gif  - graphics image (pictures or Arabic texts)
snd  - soundbyte
au   - soundbyte
uu   - uuencoded file (mostly graphics)
msg  - message
JPEG - graphics image
tiff - graphics image
anim - directory of sequential .tiff "movie" images

Files with other extensions will usually be text files where the
extension denotes the character of the file contents.

*** end of message ***
From: saleham@cauchy.mcs.clarkson.edu (Anwar M. Saleh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Re: Symphonies in Rahbani's music!
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:52:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Aug12.175214.25403
Reply-To: saleham@cauchy.mcs.clarkson.edu
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.

From: Ya'eesh
"Allah Allah a iyyaam zamaan lamma ana kent bharrib
 wihhyaatak maa kent harrib ella kill meet klaashinkov sawa"
 
 
 Anwar Saleh
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: medawar@prism.poly.edu (Bassem Medawar)
Subject: Re: Postcard from Nahribrahim on liasun3.epfl.ch (GIF)
Organization: Polytechnic University, New York
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 15:00:28 GMT

In article <4479@disuns2.epfl.ch> choueiry@liasun1.epfl.ch (Berthe Y. Choueiry) writes:
[..]
>A sample session:
>
>Notice the I have written *****PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE******. Entering the password is invisible. It is customary to your your email address as password on anonymous ftp servers. 
>
>The commands I have typed are after the "ftp>" prompt. Remarks are in [brackets].
>
>     10%ftp liasun3.epfl.ch [make the connection]
>     Connected to liasun3.epfl.ch.
>     220 liasun3 FTP server (Version 6.9 Fri Sep 27 14:32:46 MET DST 1991) ready.
>     Name (liasun3.epfl.ch:borrel): anonymous
>     331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password.
>     Password:  [*****PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE******]
>     230-Welcome, archive user!  This is an experimental FTP server.
[etc..]


Berthe, the problem is in some the ftp clients clients.  They don't know how to 
deal with the messages, such as "230-Welcome, archive user! ....", which the 
new ftp server running on liasun3.epfl.ch and elswhere produce.  Fortunately, 
some of the new servers (including yours) allow a user to enter a "-" as the 
first character of the password.  This disables those messages to allow old 
(brain damaged) ftp clients to interact with it.

So.. when you ftp to liasun3.epfl.ch, if you get:
$ ftp liasun3.epfl.ch
	Name (liasun3.epfl.ch:medawar): anonymous
	Password (liasun3.epfl.ch:anonymous): medawar@tasha.poly.edu
	ftp> ls
	
	ftp> 
	[etc..]

Then log in again and use "-" before the password as follows:
	$ ftp liasun3.epfl.ch
	Name (liasun3.epfl.ch:medawar): anonymous
	Password (liasun3.epfl.ch:anonymous): -medawar@tasha.poly.edu
	ftp> ls
	bin
	etc
	incoming
	lost+found
	ls-lR.Z
	pub
	adm
	pub2
	ftp.DU
	usr
	dev
	users
	
	ftp> 
	[etc..]

Of course, use your own address :-)

bassem
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: mmokhtar@attmail.com (Mazen Mokhtar)
Subject: Re: Chritians, Muslems, and M.G
Originator: mmdh@cbnewsf.cb.att.com
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 15:19:24 GMT


In article <1992Aug17.025724.2641@trl.oz.au> a.Faris@trl.oz.au writes:

> In case you did not know, most of the generals that lead the armies of
>Mohammed were Christains who were hired by the prophet and his associates.

  Where did you get this interesting "fact"? The generals in each of his
battles are well known. He has never used a non-Muslim general he has also
never used non-Muslim soldiers. Furthermore, there were almost no christians
in the area at the time. The peninsula was populated by pagans and a
significant minority of Jews before the advent of Islam. Perhapse you are
refering to the fact that he used a pagan road guide on occasion?

>Later on they were forced to convert to Islam or face death by the sword
>like every one else.

  Clearly this cannot be true. Jews and Christians flourished under Islamic
rule at every period of Islamic history. Had they been forced to convert
you wouldn't find so many of them troughout the Islamic world. Islam forbids
acts similar to the Inquisition. Opression is not tolerated in any of its
forms in Islam. Furthermore, conversion by the sword was never documented,
do you care to perform this much awaited task?

  I should note that cases of oppression have existed in the Islamic
world (and elsewhere) both against Muslims and non-Mulims. Islam stands
for Justice in the face of every oppression, regardless of the religion
of the one who performs it or of the one who suffers from it. I do not
care to defend Muslims oppressors against non-Muslim victims, but I also
do not care to blame Islam, or innocent Muslims for crimes that were never
committed.


Regards,

Mazen Mokhtar

Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: ham@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Peter R. Ham)
Subject: Anyone read Samarakand? By Amin Maalouf
Organization: /u/ham/.organization
Distribution: soc
Date: 20 Aug 92 09:49:29

I may have the spelling wrong. Can someone give me a recommendation/
synopsis of this book? I'm thinking of buying the English translation,
but it doesn't seem to be available locally.

Peter
--
From: oueichek@ngulu (Ibaa Oueichek)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Re:
Date: 19 Aug 92 11:12:20 GMT
Organization: IMAG, University of Grenoble, France
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

rached@sample.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rached Zantout) writes:
: In article <1992Aug18.224550.7902@trl.oz.au>, faris@sarcasm.trl.OZ.AU (Aziz Faris) writes:
: > I will respond to Mr. Rached Zantout.
: > 
[a long list of "My religion is better than your religion" discussion deleted].

 I'll not take side on this religion war, i'll just expream (with sadness), that
 i'm very disappointed because this M.G scum seems to have succeeded creating
 division (and that was obiviously his goal).

 Only one comment concerning Alawits (to Mr Zantout) :
 FYI, Alawits considers themselves to be Muslims, but they have never been treated
 as such. Pres Assad needed a Fatwa from Imam Sadre who said that Alawits were 
 Muslim shiits to become a president (as the constitution says that the pres MUST
 be a MUSLIM). Even worse, there has been a Fatwa issued at the beginning of this
 century which said that Alawits were Kafirs.


--
Sham(u) ya tha (s)seif(u) lam yaghib(i) | Ibaa Oueichek. oueichek@imag.imag.fr
    Ya jamal(al) majd(i) fi(l) kutub(i) | LABORATOIRE 	BULL-IMAG
Kablak(i) (t)tareekh(u) fi thulmaten    | Grenoble. 
    Baadak(i) staula ala (sh)shuhub(i)  |
From: elie@hdtv.njit.edu (Elie I. Mourad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: CLAO Aug. 15 '92
Date: 17 Aug 92 12:03:49 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.


From CLAO Aug. 15 1992
-----------------------

In a recent interview with the daily al-Hayat, General Michel Aoun
said that the situation in Lebanon will not improve until there is a
government that truly represents the interests of the Lebanese people.
Any effort would be useless if it does not call for a change of 
leadership in Lebanon. General Aoun renewed his call for the Christians
and Moslems to establish relations based on national interests.
No side should blame the other side for committing historical mistakes,
and the responsibilities of the Moslems at the present is very crucial.

US Ambassador in Beirut Ryan Crocker said after meeting Sheikh Mohammad
Mehdi Shamssedine that "Lebanese national unity is more important than
the elections."

In a recent survey conducted by the daily al-Nahar, it was revealed that those
who will participate in the Syrian-controlled elections in northern 
Lebanon will not excede 20% of eligible voters.

Christian Science Monistor (Au. 7) reported that "narcotics out of 
Lebanon last year had an estimated street value of $6.5Billion.
International drug enforcement officials remain skeptical about the
crackdown" apparently sponsored "to impress the United States and 
remove on of the last barriers of respectability abd Anerican aid...
They argue that the bulk of the opium poppy crop was destroyed not by the 
Syrians but by an unusually harsh winter." The paper added that
"alleged involvement in the lucrative trade by important Lebanese and
Syrian figures... make international agencies skeptical about the
chances of the business being closed down once and for all."



It was learned that the death of Syrian president Assad's mother
has led to a reconciliation between Hafez and his brother Rifaat.
Observers say that Rifaat is in Syria to stay. It was noted that 
Khaddam and others are now concerned about what role they will play in the 
future.

Israel's deputy Defense Minister said that Israel is ready to occupy 
Syria if Damascus does not halt its acquisition of SCUD missiles capable
of targeting all areas in Israel.
From: scemg@thor.cf.ac.uk ("M.G")
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: UNION BETWEEN IRAQ AND SYRIA
Date: 14 Aug 92 10:06:51 GMT
Organization: University of Wales College of Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales, UK
X-Mailer: Cardiff Computing Maths PP Mail Open News Gateway

From: basu@remus.rutgers.edu (sid-darth vader)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: If Saddam were smart and patriotic
Date: 13 Aug 92 20:52:18 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

Sid-Darth Vader writes:

	If Saddam were truly smart and considered
himself an Arab first he would resign in favor of
Iraq merging into Syria. Both Iraq and Syria are
run by the Baath Party which have similar philosophies
differing only because of the personal rivalry between
Saddam and Assad. If Saddam steps aside the Baath Party
apparatus will be able to provide a workable political
order. As it is war-damaged Baghdad will consume millions
for reconstruction. Might as well stick with Damascus as
the capital of a new U.A.R.
	Think of the this new Arab super-state stretching
from the Persian Gulf to the Medit, with oil, industries,
commerce. Lebanon is already part of Assad's domain.
This way he will have a 2 million man army on Israel's
frontline. 
	By making way for the union, Saddam will have
reversed the political succeses of the coalition that
defeated him. Syria, as a member of that coalition is
exempt from any international sanctions. The world would
welcome the departure of Saddam Hussein.
	Just think about it!
----------------------------------------------------------
Are you serious?
the Baath Party both in Iraq and Syria is the main cause of killing thousands
of innocent people. Most of the people from Iraq and Syria are 
a ware that this Party is created by the French and supported
by the British to cause as much as harm and destruction to these two
Countries and to Middle East in the name of ARABISIM, and also to
stop the Islamic movements, as you
know very well that Mechele Aflag (the founder of the Party) is half
jewish half christian and it is known that most of the christian in the
Middle East DO NOT CARE LESS about the Country they live in. The majority
of the christian in Iraq and Syria consider France is their mother Country
and the Moslems had enough RUBBISH of ARABISIM and NATTIONALISIM.
The best way (and the only way) for the union is THE ISLAMIC UNION 
(Atrue Islamic Union) not only between Iraq and Syria but all the 
Moslem Countries in the region and then WE WILL BE STRONG AND POWERFULL.

M.G
Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
From: rached@blanc.eng.ohio-state.edu (rached)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Re: CLAO Aug. 17 1992
Date: 20 Aug 92 23:55:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: ee.1992Aug20.235528.9908
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Electrical Engineering



Elie

Very nice thoughts. Still those are everyone's dreams. Do you have any

idea on how are we going to acheive this ?

Who is going to drive out Foreign forces ? Who will choose the committee
that will run the elections ? Who are those honest people that will
serve on it.

As I have seen in Lebanon, now or after the Syrians pull out of Beirut,
the same faces will be "elected" and the same faces will reappear. It is
only a choice between old faces that we have to make.

The real Question is:

Do you (or any other netter) have a FEASIBLE way to attain democracy in
Lebanon other then the coming elections ?

rached
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: hani@gilasun.engin.umich.edu (Hani Abinassif)
Subject: Re: Chritians, Muslems, and M.G
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 14:39:43 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
Originator: hani@gilasun.engin.umich.edu


(Aziz Faris) writes:

> This is primarily aimed at that creature by the initial M.G.
 
	After reading your article, I believe you are unduly mixing
historical facts, that has nothing to do with Islam, Christainity or 
Judiasm, with religeous beliefs.

>I
> beleive Islam or any religion with the exception of Judiasm is incapable of unifying
> people. This is exactly how Jews meant it to be when they created Christianity and
> Islam. You should read the epics of Gilgamish a famous Assyrian, study the recent
> findings in the ancient city of Ebla in northern Syria, and read the codes of Hammurabi.
> 
> A.Faris

what are you trying to proof?  What has Hamurabi to do with current Christains, Muslims
or Jews,...What makes you so darn sure that Christains would GLORIFY the ARAB Countries if
they rule...This has nothing to do with religion...we should seek unity among all 
religions, under one secular Arab country..Tolerance my friend ...Tolerance...to 
be frank, M.G. seemed a mirror muslim image of what you are saying.
_Hani
-- 
| Hani Nassif            | hani@caen.engin.umich.edu                 |
| 1354 G.G. Brown Bldg.  | Computer Aided Engineering Network (CAEN) |
| University of Michigan | Hotline Office, Chrysler Bldg. # 231      |
| Ann Arbor, Mi 48109    | Ann Arbor, MI 48109                       |
From: elie@sensors.njit.edu (Elie I. Mourad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Dead Sea Scrolls (was Re: ...)
Date: 19 Aug 92 07:25:32 GMT
Article-I.D.: njitgw.1992Aug19.072532.5775
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <1992Aug18.224550.7902@trl.oz.au> a.Faris@trl.oz.au writes:
>religious conflicts. I happen to be Christain in the sense I perscribe to the teaching
>of Jesus Christ as a man. I don't know that he possed any Goddely powers at least there
>is no major evidence especially with the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I beg to differ with you here. Most if not all the material at Qumran
refers to the old testament! So obviously there would not be much about
Jesus of Nazareth besides predictions of the coming of the Messaiah from
the house of David and a lot of Mosaic laws. Please correct me if I am wrong.
But to say things like "there is no major evidence" would seem to me
that you did not do your homework right :-) and are probably confusing
things. 
I personally think the only thing that separates Christianity from other
religions be they old or new is the fact that Christ was not "just a man who
said good things."!!

(Apparently a lot is STILL unpublished and I am not an expert :-)) 

A little word about the dead sea scrolls. Many of the books used
in the Church are books that were preserved by the early Church
and handed down in translation - Greek, Latin, Syriac, Ethiopian, etc.. -
but had inevitably suffered some degree of interference at the hands of 
interpreters and copyists. Now, some of these books are available in
their original Hebrew or Aramaic texts which are about 2,000 years old.
It is for the first time possible to assess the fidelity of the translated 
texts. (G. Vermes "The dead sea scrolls") 

If you read the translation of one of the Aramaic tablets 4Q246 found in
cave 4: (Pseudo-Danielic writings)

"He shall be called son of God, and they shall designate him son of 
the Most High. Like the appearance of comets, so shall be their 
kingdom..." 

Also you may wish to look at commentaries on Isaiah in 4Q161.

Regards, Elie.
(I will be in New Mexico in a couple of days, any Lebs out there ?)

--

                                 ________
________________________________/--------\______________________________________
 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
From: sion@sioux.ctr.columbia.edu (Boudi Sahyoun)
Subject: Re: Symphonies in Rahbani's music!
Organization: Free Lebanon
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 14:30:50 GMT
X-Posted-From: sioux.ctr.columbia.edu
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <1992Aug12.131937.28914@zip.eecs.umich.edu> ayman@eecs.umich.edu (Ayman I. Kayssi) writes:

>
>The "Akhawayn" are Assi and Mansoor Rahbani. Elias is a new-waver in Arabic
>music and is responsible for 80% of the music that you hear on FM stations in
>Beirut :-). His two sons formed a hard rock group some time ago...
>

80 % ... Wow! I didn't know Elias Rahbani was that heavily into French and 
Anglo music :)

Is he responsible for the latest U2 stuff too?


Boudi

Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon