Daily Archives: August 31, 2007

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Trick Or Treat?

Nabih Berri’s words sound good, but can he deliver?


(Photo: The Daily Star)

“Now I say despite all that has passed, forgive us, let us all accept presidential elections through consensus and through a quorum of two-thirds, and the opposition will drop its demand for a national unity or expanded government before the elections,”

Thus declared Nabih Berri, our Speaker of the house, his latest initiative.

On the face of it, a change of heart of this magnitude -letting go of the opposition’s most objectionable demand- deserves to be rewarded with an equally significant concession, especially that everyone, not only Mr. Berri, wants to “save the country”.

But March 14 shouldn’t rush to hug Mr. Berri and should instead indulge their cynical instincts.

The Lebanese want more than ever to agree among themselves, and Mr. Berri is more desperate than anyone for a settlement, but March 14 has the right to ask: What has changed since his last initiatives?

It’s obvious that Syria’s meddling didn’t go away. Only yesterday one of Assad’s pawns accused Mr. Seniora on Live TV to want to kill Sayyed Nassrallah. Does that sound like a Syria that wants an internal settlement? How can Mr. Berri convince us that Syria no longer dictates what he does?

More suspicious is the suddenness of the U-turn. What happened to the opposition’s mantra: “A National unity government is the only, I repeat, the only, solution?”

Watching Iran has made us believe that its proxies often use tactical friendliness (Palestinian Unity government, the hiwar in Lebanon, and recently Muqtada El Sadr’s 6 months unilateral ceasefire in Iraq) to negotiate power-sharing arrangements only to break them later and take over completely. Why is it different now Mr. Berri?

Nevertheless, March 14 shouldn’t be hostile to Mr. Berri and they should explore together his proposals.

Complete disregard of his offer is bad negotiation etiquette and could be damaging politically (Is Mr. Berri right?  does March 14 want to control the country?). Moreover, March 14 needs Berri’s help to diffuse potential minefields (Syrian lackeys and Aoun)

Perhaps something good could come out of this delicate dance, but it would be wise not to hold your breath.

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Where Are The Links?

Wanted: A culture of linking to others.

Question: Have you tried using Google to search for the game everyone in Lebanon is talking about? The game where you can storm the Seraille and kill Seniora? Odds are you tried, Odds are you didn’t find it.

My statistics told me that many who searched “Game Kill March 14″ landed instead on one of my previous posts on Hezbollah’s Game. You probably were frustrated that you didn’t find the game you were looking for.

The game which March 14‘s media purports to be “easily accessible on the internet” has generated a lot of online activity from people who just want to fulfill their curiosity. But still, they didn’t find it, I didn’t find it, and I don’t know of any other blogger who did. (Update: Eliedh found it and explained how)

My stats showed me something else: People were searching for “Boutros Harb President” and the first thing they saw was an old post of mine where I supported Boutros Harb for the presidency. The presidential candidate whose face was on most Lebanese newspapers this morning, it turned out, doesn’t even have an official website.

Speaking of Newspapers: Not a single newspaper in Lebanon uses links in their web pages. If a story is about a company, the story doesn’t link to its website for us to get the official point of view. Albalad doesn’t have permalinks and The Daily Star‘s old articles will cost you money to see.

Even websites like naharnet.com , tayyar.org and March14.org which only have a web presence don’t do links. Entire articles on that “easily accessible game” don’t have one paltry link for us to judge for ourselves.

Perhaps the lack of linking is an indication of a larger problem in the Lebanese society: A deep rooted fear of transparency, lack of trust in others and obsolete media control-freakishness.

Linking is not only convenient, it’s an opportunity for a huge paradigm shift.

When links get introduced to the mainstream media (MSM), the country’s entire web landscape will change: Companies will update their websites frequently, presidential candidates will have websites, maybe even blogs, websites will shape up to be more competitive, journalists and students will use the web as an effective local research tool, consumer groups will emerge, jobs will be generated and new jobs will be created.

More accountability and More jobs for the cheap price of introducing the measly link.  Who doesn’t want that? People who claim to support transparency should lead the way.