LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِFebeuary 27/2011

Bible Of The Day
The Good News According to Matthew 5/38-41: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’* 5:39 But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. 5:40 If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. 5:41 Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 5:42 Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you"

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Foreign mediators wash their hands of Lebanon as full-blown crisis nears/By Hussein Dakroub/February 26/11
Let’s face it: Lebanon is way behind/By: Hanin Ghaddar/February 26/11
Walid Jumblat's interview with Marcel Khanim of the LBC/February 26/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 26/11
     Pope accepts resignation of Maronite church head/Washington Post
French president tells Turkey it is not fit for EU membership/AFP & Daily Star
Report: Iran, Syria agree on military training cooperation/Reuters & Haaretz
Will Syria become more democratic?/Washington Post
Lebanon: Permit Departure of Bahraini Opposition Leader/Human Rights Watch
Fatfat slams Mikati speech, says it is unclear as usual/iloubnan.info
Bassil denies Aoun's campaign against President, says no dispute over interior/iloubnan.info
Suleiman in Kuwait to Attend its National Day Celebrations /Naharnet
STL Completes Investigation in Leaked Recordings /Naharnet
March 14 Becomes Opposition on Sunday: We Don't See Anything New in Miqati's Positions /Naharnet
Head of Syndicate of Gas Station Owners: Gasoline Will Be Provided to All Stations Starting Saturday /Naharnet
Pope Meets Sfeir at the Vatican /Naharnet
Judge Bert Swart of STL Dies /Naharnet
Libya Revolt May Clear Moussa al-Sadr Mystery /Naharnet
Salameh from Washington: Lebanon's Banking Sector Not Targeted by U.S. /Naharnet
3 Lebanese Suspects Extradited from Paraguay to U.S. /Naharnet
Lebanese Dentist Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Israel /Naharnet
5 Spanish Soldiers Preparing for UNIFIL Mission Killed in Accidental Blast /Naharnet
Hariri's Circles Refuse to Respond to Jumblat: We Have Ties of Mutual Loyalty with his Supporters /Naharnet
Miqati Assures of His Ties with Saudi: The Government is Ready /Naharnet
Berri Questions Slowness of Cabinet Formation: Isn't Energy Ministry as Important as Defense? /Naharnet
Russia vows to sell missiles to Syria/Now Lebanon
 

Pope accepts resignation of Maronite church head
The Associated Press /Saturday, February 26, 2011/VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the spiritual head of Lebanon's Maronites, the largest Catholic church in the Middle East. Lebanese Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir was elected patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites in 1986. The 90-year-old cardinal cited his old age in comments to the Lebanese media when he handed in his resignation. The pontiff said in a message to Sfeir released by the Vatican on Saturday that the cardinal's decision was an "expression of great humility." Christians make up about 40 percent of Lebanon's 4 million people. Some Christian politicians have criticized Sfeir, saying he was too involved in politics and too supportive of Lebanon's Western-backed political coalition.

March 14 Becomes Opposition on Sunday: We Don't See Anything New in Miqati's Positions
Naharnet/The 60 March 14 coalition MPs are preparing to hold a meeting at the Bristol Hotel on Sunday at 6:00 pm where they are expected to announce the camp's final position on the participation in Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati's government. The daily An Nahar reported on Saturday that the MPs' statement will confirm the camp's refusal to participate in Miqati's government "because he failed to grant it guarantees it had requested, as well as the blocking minority." The MPs are also expected to condemn the way President Michel Suleiman and PM-designate Miqati are being treated by the March 8 camp. Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to hold an important speech after the meeting, but a date has not been set for it. Another meeting following the Bristol gathering will be held in order to outline the components of the new opposition, which will be comprised of parties, movements, and individuals.  March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid told As Safir in remarks published on Saturday that the March 14 leadership will hold a meeting on March 6 also at the Bristol Hotel to announce a political document and roadmap that the forces will adopt. Meanwhile, a March 14 source told An Nahar that the camp did not sense any new position in Miqati's recent statements in Tripoli, "but he repeated the same wooden statements on justice and the truth while the March 8 camp is preparing a ministerial statement devoid of any reference to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the arms possession outside the state." Beirut, 26 Feb 11, 09:47

STL Completes Investigation in Leaked Recordings
Naharnet/A high-ranking French source revealed that concerned circles in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon are continuing their investigation to uncover the circumstances surrounding the leak of voice recordings conducted by the investigation into the assassination into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, reported al-Liwa' Saturday. The recordings were leaked and broadcast by a Lebanese television station. The source added that it has been confirmed that the recordings are in the possession of a prominent Lebanese party that is concerned with the Hariri investigation. It continued that the investigations over the recordings have reached an advanced and possibly final stage, the findings of which may be announced simultaneously with measures taken against individuals involved in the leak. The French source revealed that it is almost certain that former employees in the STL were also behind the leak.
Meanwhile, it said that Pre-Trial Judge Danial Fransen is about to complete his assessment of the indictment into the Hariri assassination that STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare had delivered to him a few weeks ago. It stated that the indictment may be released within two weeks. Beirut, 26 Feb 11, 13:09

Hariri's Circles Refuse to Respond to Jumblat: We Have Ties of Mutual Loyalty with his Supporters
Naharnet/Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri's sources refused to respond to the positions issued by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday when he described as "silly" Hariri's demands in return for abandoning the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. They told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Saturday that Hariri "will not forget Jumblat and his supporters' stand after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005." They added that this stand was fundamental in the establishment of the March 14 movement, stressing that Jumblat was never accused of betraying the Hariri family. "We are in no way seeking to harm Jumblat's supporters with whom we share a relationship of mutual loyalty and therefore we will not comment on his statements," they added. On Thursday, Jumblat stated that Hariri was referring to him and Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati "when he spoke of betrayal" in his speech on February 14, the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Rafik Hariri. "I'm convinced of what I've done since 2009," Jumblat said of his new alliances. "We engaged in the May 7 adventure following U.S. incitement aimed at cornering Hizbullah after it defeated Israel in 2006, and today the same plot has surfaced again through the STL," Jumblat noted. He voiced concerns that the U.S. might try to "financially blockade Lebanon in order to pressure the Lebanese," adding that the visit of U.S. senators Joseph Lieberman and John McCain to Lebanon this week was "part of that pressure."Addressing the rapid developments in the Arab region, Jumblat said "the Americans will claim to support the popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world, while in Lebanon their scheme is to destroy Hizbullah at any price." He noted that "U.S. and Egyptian pressures" torpedoed the failed Saudi-Syrian initiative that aimed to find a solution to Lebanon's political crisis. Jumblat warned that "there's a trap set up for Lebanon by Israel." Beirut, 26 Feb 11, 11:34

Suleiman in Kuwait to Attend its National Day Celebrations
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman arrived in Kuwait Saturday at an invitation by Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah to attend the country's 50th independence, national, and liberation day celebrations. The president's visit is scheduled to last one day. He was accompanied by an official delegation that included caretaker minister Ali Shami, Mohammed Safadi, and Akram Shehayeb. Beirut, 26 Feb 11, 13:26

Report: Iran, Syria agree on military training cooperation
By Reuters /Iran and Syria have agreed to cooperate on naval training, Iran's official news agency
reported on Saturday after two Iranian warships docked in a Syrian port. The agreement further strengthens ties between Iran and Syria, both hostile to Israel, as Tehran seeks to bolster its position as a regional powerhouse amid political upheaval in many Middle Eastern states.
"The two parties will cooperate with each other in training issues and the exchange of personnel," IRNA quoted the agreement, signed by the commanders of both navies, as saying.Syrian officials do not comment on security matters. The two Iranian ships arrived in Syria on Wednesday after passing through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, the first Iranian navy vessels to do so since Iran's 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
Egypt's decision to allow the ships through its canal was made under an interim government after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. Iran is hoping to restore ties, cut for decades,
with Cairo, an U.S. ally which has a peace treaty with Israel.
Iran has welcomed the fall of U.S. ally Mubarak as a sign the Washington's influence in the Middle East is on the wane.
The United States has led international moves to tighten sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme which it fears could be aimed at making atomic weapons, something Tehran denies.
"The message of the ships is to announce the peace and friendship to Islamic countries and the region and attempt to strengthen relations between the countries," Iranian navy
commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said the move was a provocation but not a threat.
"If they were bringing rockets or weapons or explosives to Hamas or Hezbollah, we would have probably acted against them," he told CNN on Thursday.
Iran ambassador to Syria, Ahmad Mousavi, said Iran was strengthening its geopolitical status but had no desire for war. "Iran's position in the world, considering developments in the region, is very powerful ... it does not seek to wage war against anyone," he was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Lebanon: Permit Departure of Bahraini Opposition Leader /Naharnet
Bahrain’s Actions Against Hassan Mushaima Politically Motivated
February 26, 2011
.Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.(Beirut) - Lebanon should reject Bahrain's politically motivated arrest notice for Bahraini opposition leader Hassan Mushaima and allow him to return home, Human Rights Watch said today. Lebanese authorities have retained Mushaima's passport since his arrival in Beirut on February 22, 2011, reportedly on the basis of an Interpol notice filed by Bahrain.
The Bahraini government in August 2010 charged Mushaima and 24 other political opposition and human rights activists with a range of national security-related offenses that were part of a broader crackdown on political dissent. He was in London at the time receiving medical treatment.
"Lebanon should dismiss a politically motivated request from Bahrain to prevent a national opposition leader from returning to his country," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "If Bahrain truly wants Hassan Mushaima, then Lebanon should let him return, not keep him in Beirut."
Twenty three of the others charged with Mushaima were arrested, detained, and put on trial in Bahrain. Mushaima and another one of those charged were tried in absentia. King Hamad Al Khalifa released the 23 in custody on February 23, before the trial concluded, following massive popular protests in Bahrain. While their legal status remains unclear, high-level Bahraini officials have told the media that Mushaima would not be arrested upon his return.
Bahraini officials had asked the United Kingdom to extradite Mushaima and the other opposition activist living in London to face charges in Bahrain. The UK asked Bahrain to provide evidence to justify the request, but none was forthcoming. Mushaima told human Rights Watch that he believed the Bahraini authorities had asked Lebanon to delay his return to Bahrain. "They don't want me to go back to Bahrain because they don't want to negotiate with me," he said. Mushaima's lawyer in Lebanon told Human Rights Watch that Lebanese judicial authorities told him that they "needed to receive official notification that the Interpol notice had been lifted." Lebanese judicial authorities told Lebanese media that they will keep Mushaima's passport until they receive an answer from Bahrain or the Interpol on whether to allow him to travel. Mushaima is secretary-general of the Haq Movement, an opposition party that contests the legitimacy of King Hamad's constitutional reforms. Bahraini authorities had most recently detained him in early 2009 but released him the following April. In 2010 he travelled to the UK to be treated for lung cancer. "This Lebanon fiasco points out again the need for Bahraini authorities to clarify the legal status of the detainees released this week, including Hassan Mushaima's," Stork said.

Foreign mediators wash their hands of Lebanon as full-blown crisis nears
By Hussein Dakroub /Daily Star staff
Saturday, February 26, 2011
BEIRUT: Who will help the Lebanese if they don’t help themselves? This was the message repeatedly relayed to rival Lebanese factions by some Arab ambassadors last year as Saudi Arabia and Syria intervened to try to find a solution for the Lebanese crisis over the explosive issue of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon which is threatening to destabilize the country.
The question now arises with much urgency following the collapse of the Saudi-Syrian initiative and amid a deepening split between the March 8 and March 14 camps over two divisive and explosive issues: The STL and Hezbollah’s weapons. While the March 14 coalition, led by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, strongly upholds the STL and vehemently opposes Hezbollah’s arms, the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance calls for ending Lebanon’s cooperation with the tribunal and staunchly refuses to surrender the group’s weapons to Lebanese authorities as demanded by the March 14 camp.
Caretaker Education Minister Hassan Mneimneh said Friday that there will be no return to the Saudi-Syrian initiative. “The revival of the S.S. [Saudi-Syrian] initiative is no longer on the cards. The Saudis have clearly announced that they have washed their hands of this issue,” Mneimneh told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. He added that Hariri, leader of the parliamentary Future bloc, announced last week that there will be no return to the Saudi-Syrian mediation bid. “The S.S. [initiative] was a painful experience because the other [March 8] side had tried to scuttle every plan for an agreement,” Mneimneh said.
Mneimneh’s remarks contrasted sharply with statements the day before from Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani and caretaker State Minister Adnan Qassar, both of whom appealed to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz to intervene to help break the country’s months-long stalemate over the STL, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. However, the Saudi-Syrian initiative reached a dead end. The March 8 groups accused the United States of scuttling the initiative, while Hariri has blamed Hezbollah and its March 8 allies for the collapse. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said “U.S. pressure” was to blame for the abortive Saudi-Syrian bid. In an interview with LBCI TV Thursday night, Jumblatt also said Saudi Arabia cut off its relations with him, apparently for supporting former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, for the premiership against Hariri. In the absence of a new Saudi-Syrian mediation bid, the chance of a local initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis and address these major challenges appears to be nil as the March 8 and March 14 leaders, who are sharply split over the STL and Hezbollah’s arsenal, are not on speaking terms.
Instead of talking to each other to try to defuse tension over the STL and Hezbollah’s arms, they exchange barbs through media outlets or mass rallies, further deepening the crisis.
The question many Lebanese ask is: How will the divided Lebanese parties confront the grave repercussions of the STL’s indictment, which is widely expected to implicate some Hezbollah members in Hariri’s assassination? Hezbollah, which has repeatedly denied involvement in the murder, has vowed to reject any indictment that accuses any of its members in Hariri’s killing.
Worse still, the indictment, which media reports said will be released next month, will likely come as Lebanon is run by Hariri’s caretaker Cabinet as Mikati’s attempts to form a new government are still marking time, a month after his appointment.
Syria had intervened in the past to facilitate the Cabinet’s formation by exerting pressure on its allies to soften their tough demands. A source close to Speaker Nabih Berri told The Daily Star that so far no Lebanese faction has asked Syria to intervene, raising the possibility of a prolonged Cabinet crisis. Since the collapse of Hariri’s Cabinet on Jan. 12, Hariri and his Future bloc MPs, as well as March 14 allies, have launched a scathing campaign against Hezbollah’s arms, saying they are posing a threat to the country’s stability and must be placed under state control. The March 14 movement has begun preparations to mark the sixth anniversary of its founding on March 14.
Among the slogans to be raised at the event, some will focus on maintaining the STL and demands for Hezbollah to disarm. “The people want to topple the [resistance’s] arms,” reads one of the slogans, according to a March 14 source.

French president tells Turkey it is not fit for EU membership
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, February 26, 2011 /By Nadege Puljak
ANKARA: French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Turkey Friday it is unfit for EU membership, urging an alternative partnership for the mainly Muslim nation before its struggling accession talks hit a “deadlock.”Sarkozy delivered the blunt message after talks with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during a brief visit to Ankara in his capacity as chairman of the G-20 group of leading economies. “Between accession and [special] partnership, which Turkey says it does not accept, there is a path of equilibrium that we can find,” Sarkozy told a news conference. “The best way of getting out of what risks to be a deadlock one day is to find a compromise. “We should not dramatize the things … This must not prevent us from working together,” he said. However, Gul insisted that membership remained a priority for Turkey and urged France not to block the country’s accession talks, already under threat of grinding to a halt.
“We expect the entire EU to keep the promise they made … and give us the opportunity to complete the process successfully,” Gul said.
Ankara, he said, would respect the outcome of referendums that some EU countries, among them France, would hold on any eventual decision to admit Turkey, but he stressed that “artificial obstructions must not hinder” the talks by then. Sarkozy also met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had voiced frustration over France’s objections ahead of Sarkozy’s arrival. “We have cautioned Mr. Sarkozy many times … We have told him that his attitude toward Turkey is very wrong,” Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying.
“The EU needs Turkey and Turkey needs the EU. But if it is going to continue like this, then make a decision and announce ‘we are not taking Turkey in’… And then we will make the Copenhagen criteria the Ankara criteria … and continue on our way,” he said, referring to the EU political norms.
Erdogan suggested that opponents of Turkey’s EU membership “probably want us to quit the table but we are persevering not to do so.”
Turkey and France have enjoyed close ties since Ottoman times, coupled with strong economic links, but relations took a downturn after Sarkozy became France’s president in 2007 and raised vocal objections to Turkey’s EU accession. Out of the 35 policy chapters that EU candidates must negotiate, Turkey has opened talks on only 13 since the accession negotiations began in 2005. Eight chapters remain frozen as a European Union sanction to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels under a trade pact with the bloc, with France and Cyprus blocking several others. If Turkey fails to open talks on a new chapter by July, it would make it one year without progress. In an interview with AFP earlier, Erdogan voiced discontent that the French president was visiting his country for only several hours and only as head of the G-20, saying that “Turkey and Turkish-French ties deserve better than that.”
Sarkozy said he and Gul also discussed issues related to the G-20 group, to which Turkey belongs as the world’s 17th largest economy, stressing the need to regulate capital inflows and the prices of raw materials. He pledged “limitless cooperation” with Turkey on nuclear energy, in an apparent reference to Turkish projects to build the country’s first two nuclear power plants.
Sarkozy and Gul said they also discussed sweeping unrest in Arab countries sparked by protests demanding democratic reform.

Russia vows to sell missiles to Syria
February 26, 2011 /Russia announced Saturday that it intended to fulfill its contract to supply Syria with supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles despite furious condemnation of the deal by Israel."The contract is in the implementation stage," news agencies quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying. Russia initially agreed to send a large shipment of high-tech Yakhont cruise missile to Syria in 2007 under the terms of a controversial deal that was only disclosed by Serdyukov in September 2010. The revelation infuriated both Israel and the United States and there had been speculation that Russia would decide to tear up the contract amid the current turmoil plaguing North Africa and the Middle East. The sale is believed to be worth at least 300 million dollars and is meant to see Syria receive around 72 cruise missiles in all. Russia has not confirmed making any Yakhont deliveries to date and it remains unclear when the military intends to fulfill the agreement. Serdyukov's comments come amid Russian efforts to preserve its military supply line open to the Middle East despite the revolutions and social unrest currently shaking the region. A source in the Russian arms exports industry said this week that the North Africa and Middle East turmoil may see the country lose about $10 billion dollars in contracts. Serdyukov confirmed on Saturday that the unrest may force Russia to give up some of its Soviet-era clients in the region.Russia's sales to Syria have come under particularly close scrutiny because the country remains technically at war with Israel.The head of the country's arms export agency was forced in October to deny that Russia had signed an agreement to supply Syria with new MiG-31 fighter jets.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Walid Jumblatt
February 25, 2011
On February 25, the website of the Progressive Socialist Party, PSP.org, carried the following report: “In his interview on Kalam al-Nass [People’s Talk] show on LBC, President Walid Jumblatt assured he was “convinced about the option I adopted on August 2, 2008 [as published]. Why would I have a case of bad conscience if I am convinced about what I have started on August 2, ending with the reconciliation with Syria which aimed at alleviating the tensions on the street, preventing strife and establishing normal relations in Lebanon and Mount Lebanon? In May, the country was on the brink of the abyss due to the haste seen at the level of the two famous decisions. I was the spearhead of these decisions at the time due to American misleading and instigation.
“I told the American visitors that my main concern was justice and stability. They told me Hezbollah assassinated Al-Hariri and I told them that this was not the case and that the tribunal was the object of doubts due to the leaks and the false witnesses. I said there can be no justice without stability and told Jeffrey Feltman the same thing. We then spoke about the case of the Lebanese-Canadian Bank. I told them I wished they did not use all their weapons against the arms [of Hezbollah] by destroying the Lebanese economy. The tribunal might be used as a pressure card against Mikati as it had become bigger than Saad al-Hariri. The severance of our ties with the tribunal will alleviate some of the damages under Al-Hariri’s slogan: Tolerance without any exception and reconciliation without any exception.
“The Americans sent two senior senators to warn: Either the tribunal or… I am afraid they will use all their weapons to subdue the Lebanese or impoverish them. Did they care about what happened to the Egyptian people? The Americans sold their citizens in Lockerbie in exchange for oil. On the other hand, the American project has not collapsed. It lost the Egypt position where none of the demonstrations headed toward the American and Israeli embassies. Later on, the Americans will ride the wave of the people’s revolutions although he oppressed them. But in Lebanon, they want to destroy Hezbollah at any price. I said to McCain, that if they want to help, they must allow the people to breathe, and that what they refer to as being terrorism, i.e. Hezbollah and Hamas for example, is a fact on the ground and they must accept it. In the face of the American obstinacy and since I do not completely trust the American policy, let us try the minimum level of national unity in Lebanon, rise above some of the wounds and maintain the spirit of the S-S.
“The paper to which I pointed during my press conference regarding the S-S does not carry any signature. On Friday 14-1-2011, after we completed all the articles, Al-Hariri was required to stop the cooperation with the tribunal through the annulment of the protocol, the withdrawal of the judges and the discontinuation of the funding. I told Al-Hariri I was heading to see Al-Assad and asked him what I should tell him. He said: I agree. Al-Hariri’s demands in exchange for his relinquishing of the international tribunal were futile. And as I was heading to Syria, I learned there was no horizon for the S-S paper, because some of those who have nothing to lose decided to wait until after the indictment is issued. The latter included Americans, Lebanese and Egyptians. At the time, Omar Suleiman among others were able to thwart the initiative of Al-Assad and Abdullah…
“The Americans refused to link stability to justice. If justice leads to tensions and blood, what is its purpose? Tomorrow we will see the issuance of a tailored indictment and we have learned this from Der Spiegel, CNBC and Le Figaro. The tribunal is politicized and Hezbollah’s reaction came out accordingly. I hope that in light of the politicization of the tribunal and the loss of its credibility, we will handle the indictment – once it is issued – through dialogue… Today, can we discuss the annulment of sectarianism? I doubt it. We must relieve ourselves instead of complaining to Syria. We must relieve ourselves and come up with a governmental formula. The majority has changed and we were called traitors, ungrateful and deceiving. When Al-Hariri talked about deceit, he was referring to me, Mikati, Safadi and Ahmad Karami. They are playing childish games since on the next day, [Al-Hariri’s] senior advisor Ghattas Khoury called me and told me that Al-Hariri was not referring to me. In the eve, I visited Mikati and he told me that they sent him a message saying they were not referring to him. They are playing a childish game and just as he said that he was freed, we were also freed. How did Jumblatt, Mikati and Al-Safadi betray him on the basis of the S-S? We were hurt by the way Al-Hariri described us. We moved to another position to avoid strife, so are we traitors and backstabbers?
“… Aoun said he is entitled to get the Interior Ministry and I told him that he was entitled to a key portfolio. At the same time, the president of the republic had a very good role and position and we need his signature. Consequently, we cannot annul him and must benefit from him. Suleiman was a consensual candidate and did not come via Omar Suleiman… As for Baroud, he was unable to carry out anything in the Interior Ministry because certain security sectors exceeded his powers. He paid the price for his integrity. We must not ruin the Internal Security Forces because of the Information Branch legislation. We must look into the tasks of the Information Branch and one of Aoun’s positive proposals is the formation of a parliamentary committee to supervise the intelligence apparatuses. When the apparatuses grow big, they start spying on each other and this is when the situation becomes chaotic...
“If each person starts talking about his share and representation, we cannot move forward. Aoun is entitled to have some ministries, but he cannot annul Suleiman. In this context, I did not understand the equation saying that Suleiman, Mikati and I want fifteen ministers in a thirty-minister Cabinet. We must come out with a new image before the Lebanese and reach an understanding… I have visited Sayyed Nasrallah and told him we must appear civilized and avoid the logic of annulment. In the meantime, the March 14 team is trying to waste time until the issuance of the indictment upon request. They want to confuse Mikati until the issuance of the indictment, at which point they will organize a major event. This is what they think…
“The Saudi king informed me through Muqrin Bin Abdul-Aziz that the relations with me were severed. I understand this position and maybe someone instigated against me over there. But when I needed the support of the Kingdom, it provided me with this support. Throughout history, it always backed certain major projects and I hope that King Abdullah does not perceive Mount Lebanon from the sole angle of the severed relations with Walid Jumblatt and I hope he will continue helping this area… As for those talking about the separation of Iqlim al-Kharroub from the Chouf, I say that this is a blow to the historical and human relations in Mount Lebanon. From now and until the next elections, we will see what happens at the level of the alliances. When I made my political turn, I did not think about the elections and we must put in place an electoral law that would unleash the hands of the elite…
“Saad al-Hariri’s statements before the investigation commission as revealed by Truth-Leaks are funny, if he actually made them. I do not know why he spoke left and right about issues having nothing to do with the investigation. I too have a testimony I delivered before Mehlis once in Mokhtara, and I do not regret it in light of the circumstances which prevailed at the time, although I did warn against the game of the nations…What is required from our public and from Hezbollah’s public is to remain calm. These people who achieved victory over America’s conspiracies and Israel’s wars can overcome the indictment. I do not know anything about the way the ministerial statement will tackle the issue of the international tribunal, but I heard that Sayyed Nasrallah offered certain facilitations to Mikati…”

Let’s face it: Lebanon is way behind
Hanin Ghaddar, February 26, 2011
As people in the Middle East get rid of their dictators and move on to form democratic and modern societies, the Lebanese can only look on and feel silly. March 14 is getting ready to take to the streets on March 14th as an opposition coalition, while March 8 politicians are forming a government and waiting for the upcoming Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictments.
Lebanon is caught outside the historical events that are reshaping the Middle East, and our sectarian “leaders” are at best in denial of what is going on around them, as if the dynamics changing the political map of the whole Middle East will not influence Lebanon. Indeed, political bickering over ministries and insignificant accusations dominate the Lebanese news.
Still controlled by Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, all regimes that are still more or less intact, Lebanese leaders do not appear to be considering a plan B in case these regimes are also toppled or forced to radically change. As usual, they tend to react to changes, not act. Hezbollah is still arrogantly holding onto its arms and accuses all those who oppose it of being traitors, and March 14 is holding onto the STL as if justice will change the current balance of power without internal efforts.
The possibility that the revolution will reach the regimes that have an influence on Lebanon is certainly not farfetched. These countries have witnessed a few significant demonstrations and movements in the past few weeks, especially Iran.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah returned to the Kingdom this week with plans and money to appease a discontented population. In Syria, the regime has already taken similar steps and is being very careful not to provoke its people. Iran is a different story, as the economic situation there is deteriorating by the day, making the possibility of a stronger uprising greater.
However, money and small economic reforms will slow down the process but will not stop it because of two factors: Firstly, the region is changing, and the idea of self-determination will eventually reach everyone; and secondly, the uprisings are mainly based on the issues of freedom and liberty. These will have to be met one way or another.
As Iran simmers with opposition protests every Tuesday, Syrians have started to break the wall of fear gradually with spontaneous protests, while Facebook groups call for freedom and criticize the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The demonstrations in Iran on February 14 and 20 destroyed the myth that the Green Movement was dead and buried. In 2009, protesters demanded the nullification of the presidential elections that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. Today, their rage is aimed at Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Demonstrators chant, "After Mubarak in Egypt and Bin Ali in Tunisia, it is now Sayyed Ali's [Khamenei’s] turn,” or, “Not Gaza, not Lebanon; Tunisia and Egypt and Iran!”
If anything happens in these countries, Lebanon will never be the same. We are intrinsically linked to the Green Movement in Iran and to the people of Syria. Their freedom is our freedom, and their uprisings are ours. We live under the same dictators, represented in Lebanon by Hezbollah and the Syrian proxies. Even in the unfortunate case that these regimes are not toppled right away, their priorities will have to change.
In other words, the peaceful demonstrations that are sweeping the region will lead to democratic states and constitutions. This will certainly undermine Iran, Syria and Hezbollah’s rhetoric, which is based on the idea that violence is the only way to conquer injustice.
Therefore, the Karbala baggage that shapes the collective memory of Hezbollah’s audience can be replaced with the modern and non-violent spirit of Tahrir Square. The arms issue might become more easily questioned, and state institutions that guarantee reforms could become more of a priority than putting everything on hold in the name of the Resistance.
Politically, if a new government is made up of Hezbollah and pro-Syrian ministers, it would look as if Lebanon is forming one autocratic regime while everyone else in the region is getting rid of theirs. On the popular level, this would look unbearably ridiculous.
This is the good part, but if we don’t do anything to act against it, Lebanon might be thrown in the dumpster of modernity.
The Lebanese have always glorified themselves for being the leaders of democracy and modernity in the region. However, the new dynamics shaping this part of the world could leave Lebanon far behind as it keeps struggling to divide power and riches among sectarian leaders. If this doesn’t change soon, the Lebanese will soon be regarded as the ultimate symbol of corruption and backwardness in the Middle East.
On the other hand, true democracy and reforms might force themselves into Lebanon, at least through the youth. This generation cannot wait any longer to have a better internet, among other basic services; better employment opportunities based on qualifications, not connections; or a civil status law that would make them equal citizens, not followers. When they realize that they are on the worst part of the regional map, something will have to give.
Now that March 14 is in opposition, it might be a good idea to take inspiration from the Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Iranians and other people in the region. March 14, 2005 made similar calls to those spreading throughout the Middle East today: Freedom, Democracy and Justice. Maybe now it is time to add further demands: reforms, a civil law, equality, women’s rights and other civil liberties.
**Hanin Ghaddar is Managing Editor of NOW Lebanon