Category Archives: Politics

The Samy Gemayel Assassination Attempt

When I heard the news that Lebanese security forces thwarted an assassination attempt directed at Kataeb MP Samy Gemayel, I was shocked on two accounts.

1) Our security forces actually managed to do something and that, by itself, is something to make your jaw drop in shock. How about that something being thwarting an assassination attempt? Do we applaud them for a great effort or do we simply shrug it off as them doing their job for once? It’s up to you.

2) I thought the whole assassinations in the country were, at least for the time being, behind us. If you thought about it, the Syrian regime is too preoccupied with killing its own people to stage assassinations in Lebanon but still remain politically influential. The politicians in Lebanon who are prone to getting assassinated, such as Samy Gemayel, have almost no political say in the country. The government is not with them, the parliament majority is not with them – and even if they had both parliament and government, it’s not like they were going to do much with all the hurdles thrown at them primarily by FPM’s Michel Aoun and Hezbollah in the background as the master puppeteer.

So why was there an assassination targeting Samy Gemayel?

The answer goes back to Syria. It looks like, even though they’ve got their hands full, their feet are still stretching across the border and still able to play. An assassination of a political figure with a lot of promise, like Samy Gemayel, would instill disappointment in many people who believe Gemayel has the potential to be a major player on the political scene. It will also instill fear in those who believe the Syrian regime’s reach is decreasing. There will also an unsurmountable amount of rage amid Gemayel’s supporters.

Couple a Samy Gemayel assassination with the current mess the Lebanese government is finding itself in, and you’re set for true chaos in the country. In fact, one can look at the recent crisis amid Lebanon’s one-sided government as either a play between allies for power or it could be a last hope attempt by the Syrian regime to bring Lebanon down with it. I’d go with the latter because if Syria wanted to calm things down amid yesterday’s friends, who also happen to be its allies in Lebanon, it would have taken a simple phone call from Damascus to tone it down. But that’s not happening anytime soon because the Assad mentality, as he loses the diplomatic and tactical wars, is fast becoming that of a suicide bomber. “Bring down with me as much as I can.”

The whole situation can be summed up in simple terms: if the current government crisis is the bomb Syria is using to make Lebanon explode, the Samy Gemayel assassination would be the lit-fuse.

At least the lit-fuse was turned out. I’m sure Syria will find another way to light the Lebanese scene though and for that, I truly hope our politicians who are currently in power rise above their pride and think about the mess we will be in if they don’t.

 

Rest in Peace Nassib Lahoud

Lebanon has lost one the better politicians it had today. Nassib Lahoud dies at the age of 68 after suffering a long time from cancer.

I had no idea Nassib Lahoud was ill. So this news came as quite a surprise for me. It is a sad day for Lebanon, nonetheless.

Lahoud, a former MP, minister and ambassador to the US, was hailed by many as a true statesman. Some even called him the only person they can trust to run the country. He founded the Tajaddod movement and was one of the main faces of the Cedar Revolution, as well as a Presidential nominee.

Perhaps one of the greatest deeds Lahoud has done was to oppose the proposed amendments to Article 49 of the Constitution, regarding the elections of the president, being the only MP who voted against these amendments three consecutive times, in 1995, 1998 and 2004, including opposing his own cousin, former president Emile Lahoud.

My condolences to anyone who liked this man.

Batroun’s Bal3a Dam: The Iranian Interference

This is Bal3a

Bal3a is a region in the mountainous village of Tannourine, in the east of the Batroun caza, North Lebanon’s first district. Home for its famous sinkhole, Bal3a is also the source for the “Joz” river, Batroun’s main water source.

A very ambitious project has been in the works for Bal’a for a few years now. The plans for a dam, to be built on the Joz River, have been in motion. This dam would increase the water resources for the whole Batroun caza by drastic amounts.

To build this dam, bids were submitted to the government back in June. Moawwad and Eddeh Contracting Company won the contract to build the dam, with a total amount of $32 million. For reference, this is the same company that built the Shabrouh Dam in Keserwein. However, this company was surprised a few weeks ago with a decree issued by the government, via the ministry of energy, to accept an Iranian donation of $40 million with one stipulation: an Iranian company was to build the dam, a project that would take four years.

The Lebanese company has filed an official complaint with the ministry of energy, managed by nonother than son-in-law prodigy Gebran Bassil. As if the electricity crisis was not enough for Bassil. The company still hasn’t gotten a reply as to what exactly happened.

But let’s contemplate this. The project will take four years. If everything goes as “planned” for Bassil & co, the Iranians will be roaming the Batroun mountains freely, under the umbrella of a security network, which will be provided by Iran’s allies in Lebanon: Hezbollah. Who knows what they’ll do other than build the dam.

If this Iranian company ends up beginning the constructions, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard would have gained a stronghold in one of North Lebanon’s main mountains. And with Tannourine’s geographical contact with the Beqaa, a known Hezbollah stronghold, along with its proximity to other Mount Lebanon mountains where Hezbollah has already set foot, the possibilities become endless.

Let alone the fact that the Lebanese government has apparently preferred to hire an Iranian company over a Lebanese one, I have no idea how Gebran Bassil can let his own region be defiled in such a way and consider it simple “contracting” with the government. How can Gebran Bassil think he has a viable chance at getting elected in 2013 when he’s letting the people who killed Tannourine’s own Samer Hanna into his home?

And just a final question so I don’t let this drag on. Why, as a Batrouni, do I have to bear with someone I did not choose to represent me?

An Open Letter from the Syrian Revolutionaries to the Lebanese People

An open letter, written in Arabic, from the Syrian National Council to the Lebanese People has just surfaced online. You can check it here.

The highlights:

1) The open letter acknowledges the troubling Syrian-Lebanese relations and blames the Syrian transgressions in Lebanon on the tyrant Syrian regime.

2) The open letter declares that a free Syria will acknowledge Lebanon as a free and sovereign state, therefore the relations between both countries would become on equal footing, between equals.

3) A new Syrian regime will honor the Taef agreement and will look into all the Syrian-Lebanese accords, set the international borders between both countries (including Shebaa Farms) and regulate them, cancel the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council, end the age of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon and look into the situation of the Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons.

The open letter is more extended than this and it’s definitely worth a read. I don’t know to which extent I should believe all of this, but one can hope. Either way, down with the Assad regime and down with all the tyrants of the region.

The “Arab Spring”… One Year Later

Yesterday, January 25th, marked the Egyptian revolution’s first anniversary. To celebrate this, millions of Egyptians went to Tahrir to protest the current situation in their country:

The protest in Tahrir on Jan 25, 2012.

Yes, the Egyptians are protesting after a parliamentary elections that birthed a parliament with people like these in power. Thinking about it, though, if one wanted to give an overall description to the “Arab Spring,” the most accurate expression would be: rise of the fundamentalists.

It serves as a catchy Hollywood title, no? Arab Spring: The Rise of the Fundamentalists. I should trademark this. And nothing describes the way it is in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries that protested better than this picture:

A caricature circulating currently in Tunisia

Who cares that Egypt has a soaring poverty rate or that Tunisia has a ridiculously high unemployment average. The first thing the new Egyptian parliament did was not to start serious discussions about the country’s future but to refuse to commit to women rights. Again, who cares about women rights, men rights, children rights, animal rights. Who cares about the Copts getting killed on daily basis because of their faith? What matters is saying no to overly revealing clothing and taking extended naps during parliamentary sessions.

Just some food for thought but perhaps one of the few things keeping the society in Lebanon from absolutely crumbling is the fact that fundamentalism cannot and will not get to power.