A very odd theme park
QUESTION What are the attractions at the Hezbollah theme park in Lebanon?
HezbollaH wields significant power in lebanon, where it operates as a Shi’ite political party, proxy for Iranian ambitions and militant group.
The Hezbollah Resistance Museum commemorates battles fought against Israeli troops. It’s in the southern city of Mleeta, 30 miles north of the border, and features barbed wire, tanks, rockets, archive video footage and a lot of guns.
between 1982 and 2000, this region was hotly contested between Hezbollah’s forces and the Israeli military. The area was also fought over in the month-long 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War.
The bizarre theme park opened in 2010 and covers 15 acres of winding paths and wooded areas, as well as a large indoor exhibit. Guides welcome tourists to ‘the land of resistance, purity and Jihad’.
The key attraction is The abyss, a pit filled with armoured vehicles and weapons abandoned by the Israelis, as well as landmine and cluster bombs.
The most famous exhibit is an Israeli tank symbolically rendered impotent by a twisted firing barrel.
Displays show how fighters fought in the mountains, tunnelling through rock to avoid detection from the air.
You can walk through a 600ft tunnel used during the 2006 war and visit bunkers with beds, kitchenware, generators and an office equipped with phones, radios and computers.
Martyrs Hill has an esplanade, rose garden and graves decorated with guns and missiles.
P. K. Smith, Lichfield, Staffs.
QUESTION In international law, what is the Caroline test?
THe Caroline test is applied to nations that instigate ‘anticipatory self-defence’.
The term is derived from an 1837 border incident between british North america (Canada) and the U.S., involving the steamer Caroline.
It was ratified by the 1945 Nuremberg Military Tribunal’s approval of the doctrine in denying Germany’s claim to self-defence for invading Norway and Denmark.
William lyon Mackenzie was a Scottishborn
newspaper publisher, first mayor of Toronto and a fierce critic of the loyalist clique that ruled Canada.
In 1837, he convinced his followers to try to seize control of the government and declare the colony a republic.
Routed by loyalist militia, Mackenzie and other rebel leaders occupied Navy Island. It was the only Canadian island on the Niagara — the border between the nations runs down the middle of the river. Sympathetic americans used the steamboat Caroline to transport men, arms, munitions and supplies from buffalo, New York, to Navy Island, from where rebels launched raids against Canada.
on the night of December 29, 1837, british troops invaded Fort Schlosser at Manchester, New York, where Caroline was moored, set fire to the ship and cast her adrift. The burning hulk plunged to destruction over Niagara Falls. one U.S. soldier was killed.
The ‘invasion’ of U.S. territory led to mutual diplomatic recriminations, and border tensions ran high for years.
Diplomatic efforts were undertaken by U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster and lord ashburton (alexander baring), the british envoy to the U.S. In 1842, the border issues were largely resolved by the Webster-ashburton Treaty.
Webster’s statement on behalf of the U.S. and ashburton’s agreement that a state must show ‘a necessity of selfdefence, instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means and no moment for deliberation’ is invoked for the proposition that proportionate force can be used in self-defence against ‘imminent’ threat.
Webster’s definition was used during the administration of President George W. bush when questions arose about his plans for a ‘preventive’ war against Iraq.
Jean Stewart, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland.
QUESTION What are — statistically — the worst managerial careers in football?
THeRe are many candidates, but one of the poorest records has to be that of the older brother of Nicolas anelka, the former arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and bolton striker.
In 2003, Claude anelka invested £180,000 in First Division Scottish club Raith Rovers in order to be their manager. one draw and nine losses later, he was removed. anelka, who claimed he would make Kirkcaldy-based Raith ‘the third force in Scottish football’, would later admit that his ambitions for the club had been too grandiose.
on april 1, 2009, it was announced with great fanfare that Newcastle legend alan Shearer would take the reins at the club for the final eight games of the 2008-2009 Premier league season.
The Toon army were in 18th place when Shearer filled the boots of interim boss Chris Hughton. eight games later, his side had picked up five points (one win, two draws and five losses) from a possible 24 and were still in 18th place. They were duly relegated.
Kevin Cullis had a bizarre managerial career when he was put in charge of Third Division Swansea City on February 8, 1996, by prospective new chairman Michael Thompson.
Cullis had never managed a professional side, and the only team he had any connection with was Cradley Town FC, in the West Midlands, where he was youth
team coach. after two losses and seven days in charge, Cullis was sacked and chairman Doug Sharpe called off the deal to sell the club to Thompson.
later that season, Swansea appointed Micky adams as coach. He oversaw three matches, all of which ended in defeat. He quit after two weeks.
Marcus L. Whiteman, Cheltenham, Glos.
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