From Beloved Lebanon: A Whirlwind!

From beloved Lebanon I write. I miss our blog and I miss all my fellow bloggers!

What can I say? There are a million words in my head and if I write my heart out, I'll probably end up with a million pages...

I've been around every summer in Lebanon and in each year, our country was improving, moving forward, at least tourism-wise. This year, Lebanon has witnessed a major setback.

I must thank those from the Gulf who believe in our country and are pouring money into our businesses and shops in all the summer resorts around Lebanon, floating our ailing households. And of course, on the contrary, you have Syria which has abandoned Lebanon in every dimension.

Lebanon being left now to international and regional tug of war. A special thanks to the truck driver, to the fighter...who ever thought that trucks and truck drivers would become part of a confrontation, the infantry and infantrymen of Lebanon.

The borders are closed again. The Northern borders were never opened and now they have closed in the face of civilian cars.

Lebanese workers and executives are asked to leave Syria. They started first with those who have no official work permits, those who abused the system and thought that there is no need for legality among sisterly countries. Now, they are targeting those with legitimate work permits...how they're doing it? They're basically not renewing the work permits.

Al-Mustaqbal's editorial yesterday was clear: We're asked to bow under pressure and give up the great strides we made since February; either a Syrian-American settlement to bail Syria out of any connection to Hariri's assassination or have the head of the majority, Saad Hariri, pay a visit to Damascus...and we know what that would mean, the end of everything. I'll basically then just take my name out of this blog and forget about Lebanon forever.

And then we have the Hizbullah issue. People out there, what do you think? Doesn't it look terribly complicated? I have no solution in my head. They have increased their confrontation, they are playing the regional card very well. It is not about HA anymore, we all know that, it's about the Iran-Syria axis. HA has made it clear that if you want to deal with HA, you have to work with Iran, full-stop!

Lebanon, the small, beautiful country, the larger-than-life country, is too good to be true sometimes. Lebanon is beautiful like a dream. I've talked to many and funnilly enough, many are optimistic, and many are not. Many have bought in to the national reconciliation mantra, and many have become ultra-sectarian, it is but confusing to say which side is winning!

When you don't read the newspapers, Lebanon is the way it is...just Lebanon, the Lebanon we all love. But just when you read the news, it is inevitable to be disturbed. The dark forces in our country are slowly getting emboldened. I hope we can stand in their way. Can we?

Lebanon is weak, a sick-man, susceptible to all the viruses one can think of. Are we able to give it an immunization shot once and for all? I believe, if we can work together. We'll wait and see. But I'll remind myself everyday, that now in order to understand what will happen to our country, we have to keep up with the news around us. So let's keep our eyes open.

I hope to write soon!


"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."