❊ Hariri’s Interview: An Angry Man With No Apparent Plan.

Make your opponent angry. An angry person is less capable of using judgment or perceiving where his or her advantage lies. Arthur Schopenhauer, 1896.

The good news about ex PM Hariri’s TV appearance yesterday is that he did not resign from politics and that is ready to fight for justice till the very end.

The bad news is that he didn’t tell us how.

Don’t get me wrong. I do get the whole “democratic opposition” thing and I understand how an effective opposition can drive public opinion against the government, and if lucky, push it to resign. What is still concerning me however is Mr. Hariri’s lingering anger.

Mr. Hariri’s anger is perfectly justified: There is a relentless, malicious campaign to discredit and scuttle the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the international body in charge of finding the truth and giving him justice for his father’s assassination. There’s also a concerted political drive by his foes and some former friends to finish him politically.

This Maelstrom of treachery, conspiracy and drama can break the back of the hardest of men. Unfortunately, Mr. Hariri cannot afford the luxury of anger. He should learn his lessons and move as fast as possible to the role of calm strategist.

His opponents are playing chess. They have masterfully executed a plan that used a combination of intimidation, bribery and alliance-making to oust him. I couldn’t find in Mr. Hariri’s interview any response of an equal caliber. To the contrary, it appeared to me that he made some unnecessary gaffes.

For example, what was the strategic benefit of calling Mr. Miqati and Mr. Safadi names in the interview? Was this part of a (risky) plan to turn the Tripolitan voters against them? Or were these words only used to express his feelings of betrayal on TV? Mr. Safadi and Mr. Miqati have legions of followers in the northern capital. He should have dealt with them more carefully.

To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Hariri’s plan has two components:

• “Wait and see” for the Syrian uprising and the Tribunal’s work
• Constant pressure on the Miqati government from the inside and the outside, to generate a public backlash against it.

This could turn out to be a great plan, but Mr. Hariri’s supporters deserve more than a fuzzy plan: They deserve a calm leadership that can face down those who want to turn the country into a lawless statelet.