Monthly Archives: June 2011

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A Big Day in Lebanon: STL Indictment Officially Issued

As was previously leaked, the indictment contains names belonging to Hezbollah like Mustapha Badreddine, an operative who is close to the late(?) Imad Mughnieh, in addition to previously unknown Hezbollah operatives like Salim Ayyash and Hassan Issa (details are being leaked on news channels as I’m writing this)

There will be a lot of noise about the fact that some names were leaked previously. This will be used as evidence that the STL is a political process. But a process that has holes in it is not a process that is fundamentally flawed.

All eyes are now on the Mikati government, which has apparently been waiting for the indictment before finalizing its ministerial statement..

Your comments, updates and analysis will be greatly appreciated..

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A “Swift Trip To The Hague”

Madeleine Albright and Marwan Muasher (both former foreign ministers of the US and Jordan respectively), argue in the Financial Times that the Syrian president could be scared by the initiation of a process of international justice against him:

Initiating an ICC investigation in Syria now would create a powerful incentive for Mr Assad to choose reform over further repression.

This argument has been made before , and I’ll argue as I did back then that such a threat makes President Assad more repressive, not less..

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Minister Aridi Wants You To Pay Higher Prices for MEA Tickets

Transport Minister Ghazi Al Aridi defended yesterday the high prices of Middle East Airlines tickets:

the minister said that the high fuel prices in the international markets have affected the current rates. He also called for regulating the open sky policy in Lebanon so that competition can be fairer.

“regulating the open sky policy in Lebanon” is a nice way of saying “killing the competition and giving Lebanese flyers less options”. Mr. Aridi will not admit that MEA as a state controlled company is rife with inefficiencies. In the same breath, he complains that fuel price is very high (a burden shared by all airlines) and that there is a lot of competition (which is a good thing because it forces airlines to reduce their costs and differentiate their services)

As one aviation expert once commented on this blog:

MEA has to look at its own operation and figure out how to increase productivity and reduce cost. I do not mean staff issues here only. But more on the productivity of the fleet and the network [...] MEA may have a capacity problem. They seriously have to look at their network and their aircraft utilization and redo the numbers.

By “staff issues” he meant the fact that politicians needlessly staff MEA with political proteges who are paid ticket-payer money without producing any value for the company.

When you pay a large amount of money for an MEA ticket, you have to keep in mind that a part of it being pocketed by useless political appointees (multiply that by the number of sects that “have to be represented” in the company). In the past, consumers responded to that by choosing different airlines. But Mr. Aridi doesn’t like that. He wants to kill that option for us by messing with the open skies policy.

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Dar El Fatwa Does Not Speak for Me

Oussama Hayek on Dar El Fatwa‘s press release condemning the domestic violence law:

Arguing that a law to protect women is an infringement of the autonomy of your community is simply not acceptable, unless you believe that your autonomy is more important than they morality that you preach. In this case, why not follow the example of Hassan Nasrallah and start building a state within a state?

Great argument. It is important to realize that this is not about a particular law proposal. This is about religious authorities defending their territory. Namely, their monopoly over all aspects of personal status laws and the relevance and power this bestows on them.

Religious patriarchs see any law that could overstep their prerogatives as the beginning of a slippery slope towards impotence. This explains the zeal with which Dar el Fatwa and other religious bodies are fighting this seemingly minor proposed law.

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Yeah, This is Not Going To Work

When I came to Lebanon, I assumed that with proper discipline I could resume posting with regular frequency on Beirut Spring. Unfortunately, the internet I have access to is not as fast as I wish. This is a problem for me, and here’s why.

Before I start posting, I always launch my Google Reader to fill up on what I’ve been missing. I’m subscribed to hundreds of feeds, some of them of news sites, many are of Lebanese blogs (by the way, if you’re Lebanese and you have a blog, I’m probably subscribed to it).

I usually pick the most interesting of the bunch and link to them in short posts. If one of the items provoked me or bothered me enough, I write an long opinion post about it.

The problem with a slow internet connection is that Google Reader takes ages to load. And in those rare windows of opportunity when I do have access to fast-ish internet, I find thousands and thousands of unread items in my Reader cue.

I would usually have gone into a rant about the slow internet in Lebanon, but I’ll just say that in this vacation, there’ll be more smelling of the roses and less blogging for me.

Posting will hopefully resume regularly when I return. Meanwhile, If you’re in Lebanon, I hope I’ll see you soon..

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American Lawmakers Preparing Legislation Against Benefitting Hezbollah With Tax Payer Funds

Press release from American congressman Howard Berman:

[This law] will set rigorous requirements for the provision of foreign assistance to Lebanon during periods when Hezbollah is part of the majority governing coalition. The introduction of the legislation comes in the wake of the establishment this week of a new Lebanese government forged by Hezbollah and led by a Hezbollah-designated prime minister.

This will affect things like American assistance to the Lebanese Army. I don’t think it’s really a big deal. It’s more of a matter of principal and consistency in American policy..