I wrote this small piece on one of the Lebanese political forums. I am completely opposed to the idea of the election of Sleiman, and was disgusted when I saw the jeering.

Reading through the some of the Lebanees political forums, I am nothing but appalled from reading the "acceptance" and "cheering" for GMS as the "perfect" candidate, or the savior from vacuum.

I would just like to say that I am completely opposed to the mere mentioning of his name as a possible candidate for following reasons.

First, no one knows where his loyalties lie. He was appointed by the Syrians, and we do know if he kept in contact with the Syrians. His response in Naher El-Bared is not enough to ensure that he is a man that will put Lebanon's interests above all, especially after he acted as a representative of the state and contacted a foreign country on his own accord.

Second, his qualifications as a politician have been untested. He is a military man. However, while I am not opposed to an ex-military man running for president, I am extremely opposed to some one making the immediate transition from a soldier to a politician. How does he value differing opinions ? Will he be like Aoun and refuse a differing opinion? So many questions run through my head about this man. Why ? Because all I know is that he is a General and possibly a good soldier but all else ends there. Politics are left for politicians and military operations are left for military men, that's why we have a system in Lebanon that separates the two.

Third, you talk about the 14th of March wanted to respect the Patriarch's wished. How do you respect his wishes by amending the constitution, when he opposed it? And if he does not oppose it, how would you even accept a constitutional amendment solely for his highness ?

There is a concept that is very alien to the Lebanese mind. It's called the rule of law. Perhaps it has not taken shape because of the war, and before the war there was the politics of patrimony or "ma7soubiyet". The constitution is not a rag for the politicians to wipe their feet with. It is not something that you amend continuously for one person, who is the president.

In the past 18 years it has been amended 3 times perhaps even more, and maybe this time the 4th, for what ? No it wasn't amended to give people free health care, no it wasn't amended to give people the unabridged freedom of speech, and not it wasn't amended to give the Lebanese courts more power. It was amended for the the sole graces of the president, and the prolonging of his term, even though each one did a job worse than the other.

Some people argue that they prefer Sleiman over vacuum. This is probably a good justification, but it is not good enough. People have to start understanding that they cannot overstep the constitution whenever they feel like it. This has to stop somewhere. It was meant as a ceiling and not as a floor. If politicians can't understand that then the people never will.

I am not advocating a 50+1 president, although I would not mind it. But a president that has been elected *cough* appointed *cough* through a constitutional amendment, and accepts such a constitutional amendment is no different than Lahoud, and is no different than all the over glorified, over celebrated, over welcomed, and ego inflated failure of politicians that came before him.'

You want to build a country, start by respecting its constitution.

I think we all need a good laugh today after everything that's being said and been said. Let's take a chill pill and have a good time.

Nice video from Abu Taysir :)

Our ex-president, who picture is not even worth posting on this blog has finally stepped down. We have finally rid ourself one of history's worse presidents. No one was committed to the undermining of the independence of this nation more than Emile Lahoud was.

As Johnny Abdo once said, " During his nine years as general he made Hizballah stronger than the army, during his nine years as president, he made the Hizballah stronger than the entire Lebanese nation.

Again, to quote my 5th grade English teacher, "Good riddance to bad rubbish".




As of now however, much more important questions pose themselves on us. What is the 14th of March going to do ? The LF block have said that as of midnight today, any call by Berri doesn't matter since the constitution states that the parliament is now in session indefinitely. The constitution is again a source of conflict, especially when one of the FPM leaders, Mr. Kenaan, starts arguing and shouting (for the lack of a more proper word) about how Aoun's proposition was rejected. Regardless of the fact that the proposition appoints Aoun as the selector of the President and Saad Hariri as the appointer of the PM. But who needs democracy anyway.

The way I see it at the moment. The 14th of March have two options. They can either convene tomorrow and elect a president with a 50%+1 , or they can take the more diplomatic road and try to get to an agreement with the opposition. I am personally against such prolongations of conflict. They will be doing nothing but moving the argument another 6 years. But what surprises me the most is that there will be no need for agreement over the PM or the Speaker of Parliament. It's just amazing how low the Christians have sunk, turning the presidency into an external issue with the president of Zimbabwe looking for a way to stick his nose in.

On the other hand, some trust sources have stated that Jumblat and the PSP have changed their minds about the 50%+1 , and wants to reach a settlement because he is afraid of a clash with Hizballah. Again you have the militant Hizballah, hindering the way for progression. But that's not the core of the problem actually. The core of the problem is that Jumblat is screwing the Christians again by changing his mind last minute for his self-preservation like he did before the 2005 elections.

One is left to wonder what's going to happen. Arguing about political maneuvering is useless at the moment. There's no telling what the self-serving Lebanese politicians will do this time around, but let's just hope it's for the good, and they don't screw Lebanon over and over again.

Emotions are flying ridiculously high, and the country has been polarized for the last 24 hours. We are waiting to see what is going to happen in the next few hours in Lebanon. Makes me wonder if I should actually go to sleep, or wait for the clock to strike 12.

Berri did not postpone the session, which is arguably unconstitutional to begin with. There is a suspicion that the FPM might boycott the election, but independent members of the R&C block are saying that they are going to show up. Honestly, I do not want to speculate, because there's nothing more I hate than theorizing, but we'll see who shows up and who doesn't.

All Hizballah cares about is a president that'll maintain their weapons. Earlier they decided to tempt the 14th of March, by saying that if Aoun is elected they'll be willing to "discuss" their disarmament. This declaration is very interesting, since they left room for a possibility of them not disarming at all.

Anyway we are left to be witnesses. Us the people, whose hands are tied.

I've been quiet for the last week, because there wasn't anything of much importance to say. You had the usual attacks from left and right in the usual Lebanese "classy" manner but nothing of importance. At least nothing worth mentioning.

Aoun still thinks he's the only candidate, and people continue to follow him for some seriously irrational reasons which I have yet to understand. He has given oxygen to the syrian "opposition". He has given Christian legitimacy to the Hizballah. And what's the excuse? They're Lebanese like everybody else. Here I have something to say.

No mon generale. They are not Lebanese. The Shiites are Lebanese, but the Hizballah is an Iranian funded and founded party that exploits the Shiites to its own advantage. When you are able to prove to me that 90% (hopefully less) of the Shiite population are with a Khomeinist Islamic Republic then I'll agree with you. But until then I'll consider the Marada to be more Lebanese than Hizballah.

I have managed to refrain from talking about the presidency for a while. Honestly, it's not really a subject that I want to get into. It's not really something that I look forward to either. There hasn't been a country that hasn't stuck its nose in Lebanon's business, and it won't be surprising if we find out that Burma is starting to tell Lebanon what it should do regarding its presidency.

I really have not seen a broader candidacy list. It seems like every Maronite wants to become president. I never really took that saying literally, but apparently it is meant to be literal. Everyone wants to reach the top, and well... they have the right to. But again... at what expense? At what expense are they doing all this ?

Most of them have agendas that transcend Lebanese borders, and those who are truly competent, and who truly should be president will not even get close to it. No I am not talking about Aoun. I'm talking about a group of unknowns. It could be anybody, but it's certainly nobody on the candidacy list right now.

There'll be more to come on Lebanese Renaissance on this issue, but right now, I don't want to be repeating what others say, because Lebanese politics is really a canned genre.

Update: Apparently the speaker of parliament has a knack for violating the constitution, not only does he lock up the legislature as if he owns it, but he has postponed the presidential elections until the 21st of November. Let's see how this pans out.

What modern day politician would dare give this solution today?

Knowing that it is the only logical solution to the problem in regards if we are to keep Lebanese interest first.



A mere few MEN are left in Lebanon.

I'm going to make this brief. ENOUGH!

No not like ENOUGH a.k.a Khalas, the movement that can be added to the bunch of politically correct and useless organizations in Lebanon.

Simply... Enough government intervention in the economy.

I was watching the new today, and they were talking about fuel prices. Just to show how much the Lebanese people have no idea how to run the economy ( being obvious by the lack there-of) , the reporter asked if the government was going to subsidize the rise in fuel prices.

My first reaction was NO! and luckily it was a no, but the government in Lebanon subsidizes a lot of things, and it practically owns the power, water, and communication sectors. Enough intervention. The Indians , who the Lebanese regard as an "inferior race" figured that out, and they still can't.

You can't really blame the people though. Those who are not poor most probably have a degree as either an engineer, lawyer or doctor, so they don't know how the hell an economy works. Then again ,neither do our politicians.

That's a nice degree in Economics you got from Karkov Mr. MP :)

So that's where Geagea was for the last 11 years... I knew there was something fishy.

You can find the original link that caused all this stir here.

But honestly, what kind of an idiot would you be to believe this. Now I'm not the kind of person that just believes anything that he reads. Even if it's something that would suit me very much if he believed it. The problem is that the Lebanese press, and the entire Middle-Eastern press, has lost so much credibility in this on-going feud between the 8th and 14th of March that all you can do is try to nit-pick everything for some piece of credible news.

Anyway that's not the point. The point is, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw this piece of news. On one hand, it's funny because of the ridiculous accusation, but on the other hand, it's sad because of the speed that the 8th of March and the FPMers latched on to it with their teeth and starting sucking it (not milking it ... poor cows) dry like there was no tomorrow.

Never mind that this "truth" came from an extremely biased syrian "truth media outlet" ( a brief to their main page will show you what kind of politics they follow). Never mind that Nassib Lahoud's family was Chamounist, by Lebanese standards meaning that he would be a Chamounist by default. Never mind using logic that these photos can be EASILY manipulated and photo-shopped. I'm really surprised by their crispness as they should have shown some wear and tear marks, but apparently they don't since they're "real".











But AH! Here's another problem... the news comes from "Syrian Truth", but it's been used by Al-Akhbar. Al-Akhbar being the amature newspaper that it is, because of its complete lack of journalistic integrity published these pictures with no hesitation. Then who came along to seize the moment? No one other than tayyar.org / FPM. On a side note, I would also like to point out that the news is not on the top of their page anymore unlike some other pieces of news they latched onto in the past.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am ashamed of being Lebanese at this moment. I'm also ashamed of being part of the new generation of brainwashed imbeciles that believe whatever they hear because their leader has told them so... not that I was proud of being part of them to begin with.

I was bored, just looking around youtube for some videos to watch, and I stumbled upon a video accusing the Lebanese Army of looting. The proof you ask? Nothing really, just some writing on the walls. As I really have a problem with controlling my temper in real life, I posted a comment on there.

I woke up today with a message to my youtube account with a link to another video saying that this was proof. Again, there was nothing to prove that this was the Lebanese Army. Not even writing this time.

Here's the video:

I'd like to refer everybody to an interview on Naharnet with the Youth and Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat. I'm not going to post the entire article, although it can be found here. Now I'd love to see a minister that actually knows what he's talking about for once, and I'd also love to see one that's actually Lebanese. Apparently in Lebanon it's too much to ask for a patriotic minister. Instead you get a minister that has learned nothing from the past, and apparently won't learn anything in the future. Here are a few excerpts:

Fatfat, in an interview with Naharnet, said Iran supports consensus on a Presidential candidate to avoid a sunni-Shiite confrontation, contrary to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime that believes Chaos in Lebanon is the way to re-gain control of the Beirut decision-making.

Well THANK GOD! I'm glad Iran doesn't want to destroy Lebanon, but would still like to interfere in Lebanon. Really I'm just glad that we know that now. Let's all take a breather. phew!

Fatfat also called for pulling "Syria's weapons" out of Lebanon, stressing that bases manned by Fatah Intifada and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command are "Syrian and not Palestinian" structures because their decisions are issued by the Assad regime and not by the Palestine Liberation Organization of President Mahmoud Abbas.

What about Palestinian weapons Mr.Fatfat? Aren't they also a source of instability, or did you forget what happened last summer, or do you just want to turn a blind eye to everything that has happened in history because of the Palestinians and their "legal" arms? Oh well, as long as the right asses are kissed...

"We are for an armed resistance and against an Armed Hizbullah," Fatfat declared.

"Resistance is not restricted to a single party, all the Lebanese factions have resistance heritage and have a duty to resist if the resistance is targeted against Israel to reclaim the land and regain prisoners," he explained

Are you for a real nation Mr.Fatfat? Do you know what your acceptance of ANY resistance does to Lebanon's economics growth? Not only does it breed more radicals Mr. Fatfat, but it destroys all progress before that... July war *hint hint nudge nudge*

Then again we do not have prisoners in Syria, and neither is Syria still in Lebanese territory claiming it's Syrian territory. Are you for an armed resistance against Syria Mr. Fatfat?

Iran, Fatfat noted, tends to facilitate "consensus" on a presidential candidate "and has no interest in (presidential) vacuum because it realizes that vacuum leads to Sunni-Shiite feud and this is not in Iran's interest."

Really?!? I thought the presidency was a Christian position, my bad. Iran's doing a good thing, let's give it a seat in parliament as well. It'll pave a road from Lebanon to Iran that way.

Nevertheless, he stressed that the March 14 alliance has taken a "decisive decision. We'll not permit vacuum. Vacuum bears serious repercussions … that is why it is our duty to elect a president by simple majority if a head of state was not elected by Nov. 24.

I agree. As long as Iran is happy, and Khamaini is healthy. Everything should be fine, since you know... a sunni-shiite feud would be averted.

Choosing a presidential candidate, Fatfat noted, is "the Christians' responsibility in the first place, but it should be backed up by national participation."

Wise words Mr. Fatfat. Now let's apply this to every high government position.

But wait...

We've hit a snag. Iran wouldn't like other Lebanese deciding who the Speaker of Parliament should be. We should make it happy. Let Amal and Hizballah decide alone.

But wait again...

That's what happened in 2005... DOH!