Back in Lebanon

Yesterday, once I got home, we turned on the TV as a background. The first person I see speaking on TV was an Angry Aoun, who was considerably incoherent in his anger. Watching him wasn't exactly what I needed after an 18 hour flight. After switching channels to Future TV, I see the FPM members shouting "Aoun Rajei 'a Baabda" - which sort of fits in well with the Future TV's own agenda. When I went out today, the walls in Beirut have been plastered with Gebran Tueni's pictures, reminding me of June, when I saw Samir Qasir's portraits everywhere. Future TV plays on the theme of martyrdom with its commercial breaks. Each one has a short clip about Gebran - whether it is his funeral or some of his speeches - and end with one liners such as "They killed him once so that freedom is born a thousand times". There was another one that was directly against the constitution ammendment, which contains a juxtaposition of different phrases that people had said. This was slightly more propaganda oriented then the rest. Today, news had a slightly different flavor - with the lawsuit that Ghassan Tueni is planning to create with regards to the term "dog" that was used to call his son, and on LBC (I might have missed this on Future), quite a few crops in a Jbeil had been destroyed, with officials and citizens calling for governmental help. One person complained that Saida had received help after a few hours of asking for it, yet they are still waiting. After the news, there was an interview with Walid Jumblatt. Even though I usually see his commentary as sarcastic and nonchalant, today his sarcasm was caustically dark and despondant. Some of the things he had said are worth noting, so I'll jot some of those (but not all) down here individually.

On the assassinations:

"Their plan is to kill those MP's that were against the extension [of the presidency] ... to break the parliamentary majority ... that's their hellish plan ... it's a Stalinist regime." He also asked the legitimate question "What's wrong with officially drawing the boundaries between Lebanon and Syria?"

On Syria:

"After 30 years in Lebanon, they had the networks they needed, and had the money. They had the money, from Iraq's oil, from the Baath, from Saddam, and from Bank Medina - one of the reasons for Hariri's assassination is the Medina scandal." He also said, with regards to the Syrian Regime, that he does not believe in the phrase "either me or stability".

On the Point of No Return:

"There is no such thing as a point of no return ... but there is also no such thing as letting go of the assassination and turning the page."

On Shifting the Blame:

"Enough of blaming America or blaming Israel. Enough of blaming the Arab-Israel conflict ... Why should Lebanon remain hostage to the Arab-Israeli conflict? Open up the Golan front."

On Mysterious Threats:

"The Army General received a threat from Assef Shawkat", leaving his sources untold. He also asked "Why did Mehlis get frightened? Yes, he got frightened, and he left."

On Lahoud:

In a conversation that is typically Jumblatt, he said "Because of Lahoud, we can't change the head of security in the airport ... When people are killed in the parliament, the majority can become the minority, and then they [the new majority] can reelect him, extend his presidency." The interviewer asked "Is it possible that happens?" "Everything's possible".

On Why he asked for protection from Hezbollah::

"They have the best military strength. The Lebanese security forces aren't strong enough yet, so I asked for their help, at least for political protection ... I welcome Hezbollah to ask Syria 'To where' [ Ila Ein]"

The questions from the audience were relatively bland and overchewed, some leaning towards Syrian propaganda, others not, but I will quote one lady who said that "Walid is a zaim for all the Druze inside Lebanon and outside." For me, I've had enough with one sided zuama, regardless of how logical they may sound. We need a Leader (this time with a capital 'L').

posted by Lazarus, 1:33 PM