Moussa's Merry-Go Round

You sit on a round table to talk. Not shy away your looks and peek at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring. In Lebanon there is no bell, we've been waiting for it to ring for three decades. With another presidential postponement, for the 14th or so time, Mr. Berri might just as well keep delaying it beforehand to save us the agony of waiting. So Saad Harriri and Michel Aoun met, for the nth time with nothing in common to smile about. It seems like Amro Moussa has been enjoying his weekly flights in and out of Beirut to a point where utilizing his mediation skills have become of lesser importance than gaining frequent flyer miles.

10 reminders that Lebanon is still without a President

1. Michel Aoun is still on T.V.
2. Butros Harb still dyes his hair black.
3. Nassib Lahoud has learned to start speaking slower.
4. Amine Gemayel is losing it with Alzeimers disease.
5. Emile Lahoud is missed? getting more airtime, even on L.BC and Future tv.
6. Real Estate prices in Baabda have plunged.
7. Michel Sleiman has been taking private lessons in public speaking 101
8. Fouad Seniora has been seen smiling more often.
9. Amro Moussa has become a MEA Frequent Flyer member.
10. People still curse and complain to the government instead of the president.

Clocks of War

Tensions mount, tempers boil and rhetoric insults dash from side to side in Lebanons on going 3 year political saga. At first we hear news of embassies warning their expats to avoid travelling to lebanon in the next upcoming weeks. Next, we recieve word of cultural centers shutting down their doors in Sidon and Tripoli. In parallel, Imad Mughniyee is assasinated in a car bomb in Syria, Beiruts fueding sides flex their muscle in mass protests on the streets, Unifil member countries speak of a quick pullout from the south and El Sayid threatens for a misunderstood open war. The situation seems to be worsening by the day. Will there be a second lebanon war as it will be referred to in Israel which will yield different results and consequences? What are Hizbullahs motives this time around, with the war bells ringing from the West to go back and get the job done. I guess the Seniora Government will be squeezed in the middle once again on whos side to take.

Leave the Lebanese Army out of Politics.

Back...

After a years’ absence from writing on this blog, I’ve taken the time to recollect thoughts and shuffle through past events of 2007. We all look forward to tomorrow, the next day, the light at the end of the tunnel: a new year. Welcome 2008; hopefully free of political vengeance, personal vendettas, car bombs, regional imperialistic plots for demographic change, and pointless rhetoric. The last three years in Lebanon can be summarized in 3 words: hatred, terror and dispair. Lets hope the next three years will be decisive times for true leadership, nationalism, and stability.

Bombs, Assasinations, and Earthquakes

We've become accustomed to the daily string of bombs and assasinations in the ever-so undeveloping political situation in Beirut since 2005. Western aid along with Arab state donation of tents sent during the july 2006 war now have an alternative use, besides being utilized for camping grounds in the downtown opposition sit-in. Many villagers in the south, near the epicenter of the quake, have opted to sleep it out in the ' infamous tents' that have become a staple in the ongoing political saga of Lebanon. I wonder if those who have been staging the anti-government tent protests in downtown beirut would give our folks in the south some pointers on how to make it through the cold nights. Maybe this way their effortless two-year sit in would actually serve a purpose in the end; a good start in their plee for so called power sharing in a government they consider illegitimate.