Thursday, November 23, 2006

surprising, notable and appreciated presences

As I watched the proceedings, I was pleased with the appearances of the following:
  • Delegation from Hizballah - unfortunately, I'm not sure who they are yet (I heard they were there through the commentator - actually, I'm not sure - I'll have to reconfirm.) CORRECTION: There is no Hizballah delegation.

  • The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, his wife, and three members of his parliamentary bloc.
Had Berri not made his presence felt, I would have been terrified of the repercussions on sectarian relations. Of course, now that I stand corrected on Hizballah, I can't bring myself to comprehend why Hizballah didn't send a delegation.
  • The Patriarch of the Lebanese Maronite Church, Mar Nasrallah Butrous Sfeir. The Patriarch did not send a representative and remain within the safe confines of Bkirki - as we have come to expect.

  • The French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy.

  • The Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Mousa.
Maybe the attendance of these two signify that the country still has at least some regional and international support.

Addendum: Commenter, Ghassan, says that a Hizballah delegation is at the church. I don't know who's right frankly.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, HA and Amal are attending! Aoun's supporters are there but not a delegation.

Rampurple said...

There was no official delegation from HA or FPM

JoseyWales said...

Amr Cousa and his League are as useless as a one-armed juggler.

Blacksmith Jade said...

Guys...the Patriarch led the service, he was there.

Naharnet article.

Ibn Bint Jbeil said...

was there a delegation from 7rras el-arz or jaysh lubnan al-janoubi? what about the christian falangist party of america? http://www.falange.us/
what theatre it all is!!

Anonymous said...

seeing geagea holding amine's hands sent cold shivers down my spine. anyone who knows this guy's history, style, and psychology, knows it could very well be him who has organised pierre's assassination, as a machiavelian master's "way out" for the government and as a populist boost for march 14. can anyone please explain to me why this suddenly became a LF gathering (they were the loudest ones two days ago too, burning down aounist photos etc-) i thought the LF and Kataeb were separated a loooong time ago and there are years of animosity between them much deeper even than those between say jumblat and geagea.
what a creepy, creepy creature - he couldn't give an ass's ass about the tribunal, he is just bidding his time, getting rid of his long term potential christian opposition (remember his attempt to kill Gibran in 1990, and his actual killing of Dany Chamoun on the same day - also remember the killing of tony frangieh and family, the attempt on aoun's family, the assassination of general khalil shot in his bed in 1988... all of those by assassination squads, not car bombs, of rashid karame... old habits die hard), all the while financing his PR campaign in the christian "heartland" by poor Saad's naivete' and real belief that the whole game is a conspiracy against his dad's tribunal...
meanwhile, you cannot even allow yourself to doubt him - he the living martyr, the maronite Mandela - nevermind that he was actually convicted of karame's murder...
this was a "coup de maitre" if ever there was one.

Blacksmith Jade said...

...ah, so not worth replying to the last two comments...

R said...

conspiracy theories at their best... sad really

AM said...

You're right Blacksmith, I stopped replying to such comments myself, I read 2 lines and move on to another blog.