More on "the seedy of Lebanon"

Just when I thought I had a handle on the world's corruption, suddenly I discover a whole new vista -- one which involves right-wing politicians, sex with children, drugs, religion, and the current political upheavals in both Mexico and Lebanon.

A couple of posts ago, we discussed what the Spanish-language press calls the "narcopederestas" -- Juan Succar Kuri and Kamel Nacif Borge, both Lebanese businessmen operating in Mexico. The former is now in jail for providing underaged sexual playthings to the elite, while maquiladora owner Nacif arranged the mistreatment of a courageous reporter who uncovered the pedophile ring.

A "little bird" told me to check out Nacif's alleged "protector," Bishop Antonio Chedraoui Tannus. No, he's not a Catholic; he is a Bishop in the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)

According to Wikipedia:

The Antiochian Orthodox Church is one of the five churches that composed the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church before the Great Schism, and today is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches.

The religous connection sends us right back to the most troubled region in the world today, for the Patriarch of the Church -- their Pope, as it were -- has his seat in Damascus, Syria; moreover, he founded a major university in Lebanon. (I'm still unclear on the relations between this Orthodox group and the Marionites, who are in communion with Rome.)

Have I veered into abstruse ecclesiastical matters? Let's bring the story back to earth.

If you have a reading knowledge of Spanish, this investigative report on Nacif and the Bishop will prove to be an eye-opener. If you don't read Spanish, don't worry: The automatic Google translation is -- for once -- surprisingly comprehensible.

In this piece, we learn that the alleged "narcopederast" Nacif "has links with Marta Sahagún and her husband, president Vicente Fox." We thus have one reason for the election theft in Mexico: If any other party gains control, more details of this relationship will surely emerge.

The following excerpt deserves special attention. I'll try to "humanize" the machine translation, but please understand that I took French in school, not Spanish. (Perhaps someone familiar with the language will want to attempt a proper translation.)

Alfredo Jalife Rahme, who authored the Iraq book Bush Under the Magnifying Glass, indicates that there are nearly two million Lebanese in the country, twenty percent of whom, he maintains, are implied in money laundering schemes or serve as financial front men [literally "name-loaners"] for politicians. “They like to make money the easy way," he says.

He adds that the politically powerful began offering protection to this sector of the Lebanese community during the government of Diaz Ordaz, when the Syrian Salim Nasta married, conveniently enough, a daughter of the president of the Republic. From that point forward, he says, a powerful group of Syrians and Lebanese began to emerge, at the same time that the Syrian People's Party was acquiring force in the country.

Also at that time, he explains, the figure of Bishop Antonio Chedraoui gained eminence, and in the shade of his power came the elevation of Kamel Nacif, who later became strong in the world of the business, in large part due to his good relations with General Juan Arévalo Gardoqui, who was accused of having connections with drug trafficking when functioning as secretary of the Defense, in the government of José López Portillo.

One can easily grasp the why expatriate Lebanese would gravitate toward such sordid enterprises. The fascist Lebanese Phalange, which originated within that nation's Christian community, was funded by the heroin trade. Ever since the fall of the Gemayels in Lebanon, this faction has dreamed of regaining power in a country dominated by Syria. To make those dreams a reality requires money and influence.

I can only guess at the relations between this faction and Israel, the regional superpower.

Let us pull back to take another look at the larger picture. We have two "odd Lebanese" linked to Mexico's power elite. And we have two other "odd Lebanese" (Rainwater and Smatt) linked to the U.S. power elite -- i.e., the Bush family. My key question remains: Do these "odd Lebanese" link up with each other? Are they, so to speak, "in communion"?