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Lebanese politics

The government’s ministerial statement is scheduled to be born tomorrow. How much will it matter?

So finally, after 14 meetings (coincidence?), it seems the government will finally have a mission statement at hand. As soon as it will be published, a massive public scrutiny will follow. Here are some of the things we should be looking for:

- Is the statement a fudge that is heavy on spin and light on substance? Or is it really the result of a laborious soul-searching exercise as Mr. Mitri had suggested?

- Will the statement resolve the thorny issue of the “resistance and the state” or will it simply lay the framework for discussing the matter in the future?

- Will the statement discuss the relationship between Hezbollah’s weapons and the upcoming parliamentary elections? Or will it completely ignore it?

- Will the statement put an end to freelance diplomacy by Hezbollah and its allies, like recently supporting the Sudanese government and backing the Iranian nuclear program?

- In light of the upcoming Israeli change of leadership, will the statement establish ‘best practices’ for dealing with Israeli potential aggressions or overtures?

Those are just some points to look for in the statement. Did I forget to mention anything? What other things do you think we should be looking for?

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Discussion

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“Will the statement put an end to freelance diplomacy by Hezbollah and its allies, like recently supporting the Sudanese government and backing the Iranian nuclear program?”

What happened to freedom of speech and all? :D

Posted by Subar Dude | August 1, 2008, 1:08 am
Just as an FYI to Mr. Subar Dude
“Freedom of Speech”???
Do you know what it means?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech#Limitations_on_freedom_of_speech
Freedom of speech is being able to speak freely without censorship.

Limitations on freedom of speech may include:
…
>Threats
>Hate speech that is defamatory or causes incitement to violence
>Treason: to talk publicly of the death of all countrymen or the overthrow of the government
…

Does any of that apply to Hezbollah??

Posted by LebanesePatriot | August 1, 2008, 3:07 am
Subar Dude:
Freedom to express a personal opinion (aka freedom of speech) differs from claiming that one’s personal opinion is a Lebanese mandate.

Posted by JAS | August 1, 2008, 6:38 am
Those guys DESERVE hezb. Nasrallah is as much a creation of Lebanese duplicity as of Iran.

Posted by Jeha | August 1, 2008, 10:00 am
Looks like Hezb and any other wouldbe terrorist group or citizen can act for Lebanon now. Dodge fucking city.

You guys are SOOOOOOO fucked

Policy Statement Draft Finally Adopted
A Ministerial committee agreed Friday on a policy statement draft and referred it to the cabinet for ratification, Information Minister Tareq Mitri said after the body’s 14th session.
Mitri, talking to reporters after the meeting, said the draft stressed on “the principle of state unity as the sole authority in regulating the government’s decisions, commitments and paths and would apply to all clauses of the policy statement.”

He said the statement included a clause on the “right of Lebanon, its people, army and resistance to liberate or reclaim its land.”

Mitri said some ministers tried to add to the clause the phrase “this right is to be practiced under the state wing” but it was not agreed on.
http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&73ED460DE3D09A89C2257498003979F6

Posted by doodad | August 1, 2008, 10:15 pm
How about going to work in the people’s interests for once? The economy, jobs, inflation, indemnities to those who suffered damages as was promised etc… I can go on and on and on…you get the point.

Posted by VOR | August 2, 2008, 3:34 am
It should be obvious that Hizbullah will NEVER make peace with Israel. They will ALWAYS keep attacking, no matter what Israel does. And now the cabinet has ratified in advance all of Hizbullah’s actions. Israelis (me included) view this as a renewed declaration of war by Lebanon.

Lebanon would be much better off to negotiate a peace treaty with Israel like Egypt and Jordan. They could get the Shebaa Farms and whatever other tiny slivers they claim. Why keep picking a fight with someone so much bigger? It will only lead to destruction.

Posted by Avram | August 5, 2008, 6:16 pm

Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.