Tripoli Bloc...What Next?

Nothing can show how media can manipulate political events better than the way media has been handling the last statement by the Tripoli Bloc leaded by MP and Minister Mohamad Safadi.

The opposition's media did not miss the chance to start talking about the end of "March 14th", and how this position from the Tripoli Bloc shows how "Fragile" this alliance really is.

Even pure M14 supporters seems to be fallen for the propaganda of the opposition, as Mustapha has mentioned in last post at beirutspring.com.

Nevertheless, one should always search for the truth behind all the loud mouths, and the easy way to do that is to take a minute and actually read the Tripoli Bloc's statement.

In their statement, they clearly mention that "وحيث أن تشكيل حكومة اتفاق وطني بإعطاء المعارضة الثلث الضامن يجب أن يترافق بتعهد جميع الأطراف والتزامهم المشاركة في انتخاب رئيس الجمهورية وعدم الاستقالة، وإلا أصبحت جميع المؤسسات الدستورية تحت قبضة الأقلية؛ وهذا نقيض الميثاق والديمقراطية، وقد يفتح الباب أمام نزاعات خطيرة." "And since forming a national unity government by giving the opposition the (safe third) has to be combined by a pledge from all parties to ATTEND the presidential election parliamentary session and NOT to resign from the government, or else all constitutional authorities will be with the minority, and this is the OPPOSITE of democracy, and would open the door for serious conflicts".

This statement clearly shows that what Tripoli Bloc is saying is that they are willing to go on with a unity government as long as the opposition gives its word to ATTEND the presidential election session, REGARDLESS of whom is to be elected.

Now one would ask "Why did the bloc decide to make such a statement now?" Well, there are many reasons for that. One of them is the bloc's intention to make the public opinion (and especially the Tripolian one) realize that this bloc is not a blind follower of the Future bloc (Safadi and Hariri were political rivals competing for Sunni's leadership in Tripoli before they became partners in M14 alliance), and that the bloc does have the upper hand when it come to Tripoli (Last elections results showed a vast difference in votes to Tripoli Bloc's candidates (Safadi 104711, Kabbara 96922, Fadel 99284 and Abdel Aziz 94760), compared to Future Movement's ones (Fatfat 89169, Jisr 93903 and Allouch 92015)) and they are not to be taken for granted. Another reason would be that M14 is trying to make a back-door channel through which it would see the opposition's reaction to such approach if it is to be adopted by the majority.

In all cases, one would be crazy to actually believe that Tripoli Bloc would be interested in ending its presence as an integral part of M14. Same thing goes for the rest of M14 parties which realize that each and every one of them can't function alone in the recent circumstances.

But then again, opposition's media couldn't stand not to go after such a statement, empty it from its meaning, and take what suits its beliefs, and make a story out of it, claiming that M14 alliance is about to collapse.

But the question remains, why up till now, hasn't any of the rest of M14 leaders commented on the Tripoli Bloc statement? I leave that to your own analysis