Cracks In March 14?

Hariri has to think carefully before ignoring Samir Geagea.

Those were the days?

The pressures on Hariri, the leader of the Future Movement are enormous. The Saudis, the French and the Iranians are all working, each in their way, towards a so-called “national unity government”. 

The Tribunal now behind, Hariri seems tempted. Notably, his Almustaqbal front page didn’t even mention Samir Geagea’s press conference in which he lambasted the current designs of hush-hush compromises.

But before rushing into shaking hands with Nassrallah, Hariri has to listen carefully to his LF ally, whom many suspect could be scapegoated in the case of a deal.

Do you really want to go back to the days of paralyzed governance? Geagea seemed to be asking Hariri yesterday. The LF’s head asked a simple yet revealing question:
“If Hezbollah were in the cabinet, would the Lebanese Government have taken such a strong action against Fateh Al Islam, considering their leadership’s position?”

Geagea was also uncompromising on the Presidency, an issue which Hariri hinted he might bargain over. 

Before getting into anything similar to the disastrous quadripartite agreement in which Hariri and Jumblat thought they could bargain with Hezbollah and Amal at the expense of the Christians, Hariri’s advisors ought to learn from their past mistakes and remember why Hariri got into an alliance with Geagea and Jumblat in the First place: An independent, Free and sovereign Lebanon. Wheeling and dealing with parties whose strategic interests are the opposite of yours would be a great mistake.

Even Nabih Berri is now making fun of your disunity.