"Lebanon is the Gate of the East because of its Christians, but it is time to realise Shi'ite ascendancy. They have the numerical superiority," said Francois Bassil, owner of Le Chef restaurant.

"We better not repeat mistakes of the civil war and ally with foreign powers," he said. "By the time foreign help comes we will be under the knife."

US keep out

Pop for the tags Righty!

I can't keep out of it, can I? I skip a ' and I get shi'te. Ah well, it keeps the world moving. I'd better change my tags in Delicious or I'll have the speech police after me. That's 4 minutes of giggling here so far.

I'd keep my head down too, in that place.