a rant concerning prince saad

lebanese political pretty boy (according to some friends. don't ask.) saad hariri inherited lebanon - or at least had planned to - when his father was brutally assassinated in a crime that shook lebanon. if some truly do think of saad as "cute and handsome" it is indeed a shame that his "looks" have not translated into political acumen and intelligence, for the prince that currently occupies the throne without even attempting to pick up the broken pieces of his kingdom has failed in ALL.

What exactly do we know about Saad? He is a businessman. He graduated from Georgetown. He made it to the Forbes List partly due to his inheritance - an inheritance mind you that is supposed to be taxed under Lebanese Law (but so much for the rule of the law). not much is publicly known - with regards to concrete information as opposed to hearsay - but the simple fact that he is his father's son makes all that insignificant.

and therein lies the dilemma. eventually, saad - who lacked so much in political skill that he had to be tutored in "beiruti" in order to appeal to the expected group of supporters (he is after all, just another populist) - will become prime minister because he is sunni, because the future movement is one of the many feudal tribes within lebanon, and because the other political parties will eventually support him for that position even if they are against him now. concessions will be made in return for certain compromises, not unlike what happened with nabih berri and the speaker of parliament chair.

at the end of the day, a lot of (justified) commotion can be made concerning hezbollah's arms and michel aoun's antics ... but because of this inherent feudal system, even if hezbollah is disarmed, something new will simply be created, since the fundamental rule of law in the lebanese political system is not the law itself, but feudalism, which institutionalizes certain existential-related paradigms. saad is just one example of this; it is indeed unfortunate that he is not the exception.

obviously i don't "support" saad, but i do want to wish his supporters good luck. so good luck ... because regardless of the cacophony they make when insisting that their way is the right way, they are in fact a big part of the current problems. not much will change within the bigger picture until they realize that. and as a final comment, if anything in this post sounds illogical, just blame it on black label. good night.

posted by Lazarus, 1:34 AM