Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Technical Unemployment

"We are leading serious and strong efforts to form a national unity government”, (Hezbollah MP Kamil Rifai).
"When our withdrawal (from the cabinet) becomes a doorway for the formation of a national unity government, we will (pull out)" (Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad).
"We won't feel that the (Hezbollah) resistance is protected unless a national unity government was formed”, (Hezbollah chief in South Lebanon Nabil Qaouk).

And the list goes on. Calls for a national unity government have become a daily bread for Hezbollah officials…one wonders why?

One of the most severe consequences of Hezbollah’s summer adventure is the restrictions imposed on its resistance wing. For the 1st time in years the Shiite militant group has found itself in a technical unemployment situation. The leadership has been busy studying possible options for the coming phase and, I for one am eager to know more about their future strategy.

In the meantime we have to satisfy our thirst by listening to never ending calls to form a national unity government. While in theory, such calls deserve our utmost praise, we can only be skeptic towards this sudden and extremely vigorous position especially when the leader of Hezbollah’s parliamentary block, Mr. Mohammad Raad, clearly announces that the intention behind calls for a national unity government is not exactly national unity but acquiring a blocking minority.

Fair enough. These are the rules of the game. After all, the aim of every opposition force is to govern. I will not even go into what exactly they want to block. This is pretty obvious.
However, the key issue here is how will the Majority respond to these calls? So far, it has been frustratingly vulnerable to blackmail especially coming from Hezbollah. March 14 has a very small margin of maneuver: it goes from a complete refusal to a possible approval of expanding the current government to include FPM ministers without granting non-14 March’ers a blocking minority. Anything beyond that would represent the end of the Cedar Revolution.
March 14 has got to stand up to opposition forces, and that includes Hezbollah, even though it is well represented in the government, and FPM which, despite its role in the Cedar Revolution, decided to reconsider its positions hoping that it would maximize the chances of its leader to move to Baabda as of next year.

Almost a year and a half have passed since the 2005 elections that granted an absolute majority to the March 14 Alliance. The least we can say now is that it has not performed up to our expectations. The people that took to the streets following the death of ex-PM Rafik Hariri are tired of hearing the same excuses. It is time for March 14 to stop responding to blackmail and start governing. It is time to stop lamenting and start taking action.

On the eve of an important and decisive period, March 14 is expected to be up to the challenge. It should refrain from proceeding with any action that could hinder the establishment of the international Court and the success of the Paris III conference. It is time for action and not senseless and childish bashing and counter-bashing. It is also time for a real national dialogue (unlike the ridiculous 30 minutes-sessions held once in a blue moon earlier this year), but it is no time for compromise on the country’s most important challenges…Unless the Majority would like to find itself in a state of technical unemployment for the next few years.

This is yet another opportunity for March 14 to reconcile with its popular base. We can only hope that this time it will know how to seize it.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Ya hala bel shabeib!



The Lebanese Army deploys along the borders for the 1st time in decades marking an essential step towards the return of the State to the South and the return of the South to the State.