Always in Our Minds.... We Miss You

My hero Gebran... we miss your wisdom and free speech more than anything nowadays. Rest in peace ya 3azemm, we will never forget your will....

Are They That Stupid? Or That Smart?

What exactly is March 14th doing lately? You can't but stop and wonder how they are functioning lately.

About a month ago, the Tripoli Bloc announced that they won't participate in electing a new president unless two thirds of the MPs attend the Parliamentary session!

Two days ago, MP Walid Junbulatt announced a "clear threat" to his March 14th partners!

And now that the presidential race has started, already two MPs from March 14th (Botrous Harb and Robert Ghanem) have declared themselves as candidates! While the list of the March 14th Christian wings is a long one, all wanting to become the next president (Nayla Mouwad, Naseeb Lahoud,...etc).

So what exactly is going on there? Did March 14th alliance really broke up? Are they that stupid? Everybody knows that if the next president is to be from March 14th, he/she should have the full support of at least the whole March 14th alliance, if he/she is to defeat good strong candidates such as General Suleiman, The Orange General and Riad Salameh. How can any of them stood a chance if he/she run on his/her own???!!! It is like giving the presidency to others on a silver plate!!!

But then again, March 14th has been a solid alliance ever since it was established, and this alliance was tested so many times in the last couple of years, and they showed an admired solidarity, and ability to stay united against all odds. So are they that smart that they are making us believe they are divided, only to show up in the end united as ever??!

The theory is simple yet complicated! You see, March 14th is trying to give the illusion that they are NOT united over one candidate for presidency. Such illusion will encourage March 8th (and especially the Orange General, who has the support of March 8th, though it hasn't been an official one yet) to actually attend the presidential electoral session, thinking that they can win easily over the divided March 14th. Once the two thirds quorum is available, no one would be able to deny legitimacy of such session.

During the first round, several March 14th, March 8th and other candidates will participate in the race. Needless to say, none will gain the two thirds of the votes needed to be elected the new president. Which means that we will move to the second round, where the president is elected by absolute majority.

And right there, all March 14th candidates will withdraw for the favor of ONE of them, who will easily win the half + one majority needed to be named the new president, and kick the rest of the candidates out of the race!

Indeed, this is ingenious, but the question remains; Are March 14th really that smart? And will they be able to fool March 8th and their wanna-be-president-at-all-costs-orange-general? Or are they that stupid that they are really divided, and they are about to loose everything they worked so hard for for the last couple of years? Only time will tell......

August 14th...What is There To Celebrate?

It means nothing at all to spend hours and hours talking about whether Liban won or lost the last war. Not because logic can't win such argument, it is simply because the country is so damn polarized to even think about using logic to begin with!

But one can't but stop and take a moment and see the situation nowadays, and by a simple comparison to how things were one day before this "Divine war", to realize how we went down the hell ever since!

Paralyzed political scene. One side wanting to elect a new president, the other side demanding a national unity government. Both sides cursing, accusing and digging into the awful history of the other side (as if any side has a pearl-white history!!??).

Even though we're trying to fool ourselves, and pretend that the tourism is fine, and that concerning the current situation, it is some how good. But for God's sake let's face it, we are witnessing one of the worst touristic seasons ever!

And as if that is not enough, our army has been struggling for almost three months at Naher-l-bared camp, doing the best it can to restore security and bring peace back. Loosing the best of our youth soldiers while defending their country and country men.

And every now and then, one more martyr goes down simply because he/she decided to say "NO", and did the best he/she could seeking a better Liban.

And our youth, loosing hope in the country, they are on their knees at the foreign embassies' doors, seeking nothing but a stupid visa to some place where they can work and support themselves.

Not to mention the economic vacuum we are living; where everybody is trying everything he/she can so they would at least survive the day in hand, then praying that tomorrow would be better.

With all that, we still have some who are celebrating a "Divine Victory"!!! There's nothing Divine about what happened last year, and certainly, there's nothing Divine about what is happening now.

One thing though is Divine, it is Liban. With all these crisis, the country and its people are still miraculously surviving, waiting for a better future. That is Divine......

Wild Life...Compared to Liban

Watch it...and you will see how much this video resembles Liban's situation nowadays!!!

Cast:
Lions and crocodile: Syria, Iran, Israel, USA, France.....you name it!
Buffalo: Liban
Buffalo herd: the Lebanese

Ilham Naser....Thank You!

I ran into a really great article today while reading Al-Balad newspaper. The writer is Ilham Naser, I don't know much about her, but she sure knows how to reply to low-level-trash-talk we heard lately during the by-election campaigns.

Unfortunately, translating the article would ruin the meaning, so sorry for all non-Arabic readers in advance.

Let me know what you think guys....

Metn By-Elections in Pictures...