Losing the cause
Do not isolate the Shias because of Hizbullah. Not all support the party and many would stop supporting the party given a chance to do so. I have actively advocated this idea for a long time now, and I am glad to see this is the message Walid Jumblatt sent in one of his recent editorials for Al Anbaa.
Hizballah will always have a core of passionate supporters. However, I have seen no serious attempt to work with those who feel compelled (for financial reasons) to follow Hizbullah and take them away from the party.
An important development, if true, is the revelation of the Syrian Al-Hakika daily that Mugniyeh's body has been taken out of Damascus at the direct request of Sheikh Nasrallah, before the Syrian investigation into the assassination.
The quest for a president
The Presidential elections were again postponed from the 11th to the 25th of March. That was to be expected in light of the political deadlock in Lebanon.
The Lebanese fail to agree among themselves, the French and Arab initiatives failed and now everyone is waiting for something to happen between the major players (and here we have two circles - Saudi Arabia - Syria and US, Israel and Iran) that influence Lebanese internal affairs.
The Lebanese have lost the momentum. All of them are to blame for that. Somehow they always rely on others. States do not have friends or allies, they have only interests, and as such it is stupid of Lebanese politicians to rely on "friends" - they have no friends period. They only have countries that use it to advance their own agenda. Now we have Iran and Syria discussing Lebanon and deciding which course of action/reaction to choose. This is madness in its purest form.
Comments (7)Two important lessons
The first time I went to Lebanon was in 2003, as a Political Science undergraduate student. The idea came to me while interning in Washington DC. I began to take more interest in the Levantine socio-political culture a year prior to my DC internship and I thought that nothing compares to on the ground observation. I still believe that today. I have no trust whatsoever in the Omerta whether it is in the virtual world, on a blog or out there in the real world.
Reading books about Lebanon is great, studying the language and meeting Lebanese expats ditto, but it is simply not good enough. First hand knowledge matters. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived there. It was my first trip to the region and as such I was scared as a rabbit and curious as a cat.
At the airport I discovered something interesting and totally unexpected.
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Young political analyst on the ups and downs of living and working in Lebanon. Search this blog |
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