Aoun today visited Hariri and Seniora in Koreitem! Yes, he did. In the face of an internationally isolated President, Aoun is not only invited next week to France for a meeting with President Chirac, but he also has been a stopping point for all diplomats coming Lebanon's way (especially the last visiting U.S. diplomat, Dibble, who gave an "unexcusable" excuse about why her agenda included no visit to Baabda.)
The Foreign Ministry obstacle appears on its way to be resolved. The Hizbullah-Amal bloc has agreed to widen its list of candidates to include non-partisan Shiite figures to assume this portfolio.
It is apparent and it has become clear that Saad Hariri follows very closely his father's line, namely not directly upping the heat on any party...but letting his views heard indirectly through his movement's representatives in Parliament and of course through the Al-Mustaqbal newspaper. FM's MP Ghazi Youssef, whose name came up as a possible candidate as Foreign minister (now the option is dropped), was clear yesterday when he claimed that Hizbullah assuming the Foreign portfolio threatens Lebanon's political and economic development and that we cannot afford confrontation with the whole world, but of course we need to solidify our position against foreign interference through national consensus.
Moreover, Aoun yesterday was extremely clear that the government can be radical but for the Foreign Ministry position.
The atmosphere feels more positive today and we might just see a government formed in the coming few days. Ahead of Lebanon tens and tens of obstacles to overcome after the government is formed. Since February 14th, we have been watching Lebanon overcoming one crisis after another; it is not easy the pathway to Independence.
"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."
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5 comments:
TM, this is very heart-warming, but does anyone have any ideas on the possible resolutions of the Government Policy Statement? (thank you doha for the term) again, the most obvious urgent issue is lebanon's stand on 1559. two other important issues are fighing corruption and overcoming confessionalism, two things we always blamed on syria.
one more thing: does fighting corruption mean opening old files. In such a case, which files will be opened. Bank al-madina? (a special treat to Emile "Abou Ali" Lahoud, Rustom "Rusty" Ghazaleh and Ghazi "Guss" Kanaan) how about the ministry of displaced, or solidere or CDR? selective opening of corruption files is similar to selective war-crime trials in the "old lebanon".
It's Ghazi "Guss Guss" Kanaan, and it's "Mr Kanaan" to you my friend...
U mean al-liwa2 kanaan, no?
consider these: solidere, and the telecomm sector (mobile phone, ogero, and the Internet); already quasi-privatized, with considerable foreign stakeholders, but they "went local" ages ago. it's a culture issue. for God's sake, AUB went local ages ago! i sometimes think it worse than the government administrations.
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