"Keep the Spotlight on this Place"

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Claudia Rosett on the Beirut demonstrations.

HH: Now, Claudia Rosett, there's a question on the internet which I have got to put to you: Will Beirut be Berlin 1989 or Beijing, 1989?

CR: That's the question. That is the question, Hugh, and it is really in the balance. The scene in many ways is like Beijing, 1989. It is people with flags standing up and finally saying the things they have been afraid to say....

There's a general feeling that Syria would be foolish to try anything violent, or to do anything right now except to continue to pull back, but there is no final deadline. The U.N. is on the job which worries me somewhat. [emphasis mine: it worries me too] And you have a lot of people with guns all over the place, including, most significantly, Hezbollah, which has become Syria's face in Lebanon over the last week.

they sort of thought about it for the first three weeks of this movement as the democrats turned out in the streets, and then they wrapped themselves in the Lebanese flag and turned out parading, paradoxically, pictures of the Syrian president Bashar Assad and thanking the Syrian regime for all it had done for Lebanon. They are far from out of the equation. Everybody is sort of waiting for what will be the next move, who will make it.

One of the sinister signs is that the pro-Syrian [Prime Minister] who resigned on February 28 under all this pressure from the Democratic protesters was back in office last week. He in himself is not hugely significant, but that's not a good sign. So much is at stake for Syria which makes a lot of money out of Lebanon, and the Syrian regime will be seen by its own people, who are able to pull down Lebanese television broadcasts, some of whom are watching this, they are seeing what happens when somebody stands up to the Syrian regime.
....
Now there is talk here that the government, which is still pro-Syrian in who's in it, may try and remove the tent encampment on which the demonstrators have been centered around. We'll see what happens. That could go either way. If they actually try it, it could backfire.

HH: With two minutes to go, how important is American media coverage and how can the average American assist the small d democrats of Lebanon?

CR: It is so important. People at the rally today were saying "Please ask the Americans, please ask President Bush not to forget us. We want democracy. We need help." And they do. They are dealing with Syria. That's not easy. They are dealing with Hezbollah, that's not easy. They've just been infested with this for years. They were saying please keep us in mind. There was somebody holding up a sign at the rally today that said "Thanks Free World." They are asking over and over, keep the spotlight on this place. It is very important. [emphasis mine]

Read the whole thing here.