I’m sure most of you (ie: our readers) are aware of the interest I have in Middle East politics, history and general goings on. While there always seems to be a car bomb going off in Baghdad or some crazy rant from the mouth of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, there hadn’t been much on offer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing - peace is always a welcome respite. Sadly, it looks as though restoring peace in Lebanon will not be quite so easy. With the assassination of Pierre Gemayel, industry minister and heir-apparent of Lebanon’s most powerful Christian family, tensions look set to rise to dangerous levels within the Middle East. Can it be any coincidence that most assassinations over the last couple of years have been of prominent anti-Syrian voices?

The Gemayel slaying raised a couple of interesting points for me. Firstly, it was the only one of recent killing where a car bomb was not used. Are car bombs slowly moving out of fashion for hired killers? Been there, bombed that, got the t-shirt? Secondly, while the attack is described as well executed, the finished product actually looks quite sloppy to me. Take a look at the picture below…

Talk about a tres gauche killing. What the hell was this guy aiming at on the left when he unloaded a full clip into the passenger window? It looks like the killer(s) was standing right next to the window when he/they unloaded. Whatever happened to a well made shot from 100m? Anyone remember the scene in the Bourne Identity when one of the Treadstone operatives kills Nykwana Wombosi from a rooftop vantage point? That was a well executed assassination. There was skill in making that shot. One of my favourite modes in Goldeneye (greatest game on Nintendo 64) was the mutiplayer using sniper rifles - any mug can kill with an automatic weapon, spraying bullets all over the countryside Leyland brothers style.

And what the hell was Gemayel doing driving in a Kia?!? Anyone notice that in the photo on Al Jazeera (assuming you followed any of the earlier links)? Why the fuck would anyone so high profile drive a Kia in such a dangerous country when armoured Mercedes and BMW’s are readily available? I know that if my ass were only the line every time I went for a drive, I’d want the peace of mind an armoured German marque could offer. There’s no sense in compromising on quality, now is there?