US urges Lebanese leaders to break political impasse

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BEIRUT (AP) — A senior U.S. official on Wednesday berated Lebanese politicians for fighting over the formation of a new government for months while millions endure mounting economic hardship. David Hale, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said America and the international community are ready to help, “but we can do nothing meaningful without a Lebanese partner.” Hale spoke on a two-day visit to Lebanon amid a monthslong political deadlock and dangerous rift between the president and prime minister-designate. The split has prevented the formation of a new Cabinet tasked with halting the country’s rapid economic collapse. The outgoing government resigned last August, following a massive explosion at Beirut’s port that killed 211 people, injured more than 6,000 and damaged entire neighborhoods in the capital. The blast hastened the country’s economic and financial decline, which began in late 2019 and has emerged as the gravest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

The local currency has been in free fall since late 2019, losing around 90 percent of its value. The government defaulted on its foreign debt last year and nearly half the population has been pushed into poverty and unemployment. “America and its international partners are gravely concerned with the failure here to advance the critical reform agenda long demanded by the Lebanese people,” Hale told reporters Wednesday after meeting Lebanon’s longtime Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri. The current crisis, he said, was the culmination of decades of mismanagement, corruption and the failure of Lebanese leaders to put the interests of the country first. “It is time now to call on Lebanese leaders to show sufficient flexibility to form a government that is willing and capable of true and fundamental reform,” Hale added, calling it the only path out of this crisis. “It’s also only a first step. Sustained cooperation will be needed if we’re going to see transparent reforms adopted and implemented.”

President Michel Suleiman ولاية كاملة وهدوء مطلق. كل شيء في مكانه. الدولة والدستور والعلاقة مع رؤساء الحكومات

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صباح الخير
من مقال سمير عطالله اليوم

هل كانت اللحية علامة من علامات الفخامة؟ لقد فرض بطرس الاكبر الضريبة على صاحبها، ما لم يكن تابعاً لكنيسة الامبراطورية الارثوذكسية. وكان مستشاروه القادمون من الغرب، قد نصحوه بأن يقلّد بريطانيا. إذا شئتَ حقاً ان تكون لك امبراطورية، فعليك بأمرين: الاقتصاد وسلاح البحرية. ونحن جاءنا من سلاح البحرية الرئيس اميل لحود، ومن سلاح المدفعية الرئيس ميشال عون. وكلما تأمَّل ما فعله المدنيون بلبنان، شعر بالحنين الى ايام الجنرالية وحروبها وانتصاراتها، لذلك، هتف باللبنانيين مذكِّراً: أنا الجنرال عون الجنرال القوي، الذي جاء بعد جنرال ضعيف ورئيس عادي، ميشال سليمان. ولاية كاملة وهدوء مطلق. كل شيء في مكانه. الدولة والدستور والعلاقة مع رؤساء الحكومات ومع الدول، والاقتصاد والنقد والأهالي والأمن والناس ولا شيء آخر. رئيس غير قوي، بلا حزب ولا كتلة نيابية ولا أبطال من حوله مثل مار جرجس يردّ التنين عن أعناق المسيحيين، ويردّ للمسيحيين أمجادهم في الادارات والمديريات والطاقات!
https://www.annahar.com/arabic/authors/13042021100420140

Lebanon opposition wants joint election push to oust elite

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Beirut (AFP) A coalition of Lebanese civil society groups and parties called Tuesday for a unified electoral bloc to try to defeat traditional leaders in 2022 polls. The joint appeal by 16 groups, including the National Bloc, Beirut Madinati and Mintishreen, marks the most concerted effort yet towards forming an opposition umbrella to take on the ruling elite in parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2022. "We are calling on all forces of change and the different revolutionary groups... to unify their ranks and work together towards forming the widest possible opposition bloc," spokesperson Nada Sehnaoui said. "Together, we will develop a joint plan for our participation in parliamentary polls through joint opposition lists," she told a Beirut press conference held at the National Bloc's headquarters.

The groups taking part so far have mostly coalesced around a 2019 protest movement demanding the wholesale removal of political leaders widely deemed inept and corrupt. They will run against established parties, many of which have been in power since the 1975-1990 civil war. The coronavirus pandemic and last year's monster explosion at Beirut port that killed more than 200 people drained much of Lebanon's revolutionary momentum. But anger is still rife over an economic crisis that has left more than 50 percent of the population below the poverty line. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 85 percent of its value against the dollar in a devaluation that has eaten away at salaries and savings. Consumer prices have skyrocketed and more people now depend on handouts and aid deliveries to survive. "We don't have time to waste," Sehnaoui said. "Hunger is stalking the vast majority of our people and the fate of our country is at stake."

Iran Haunts the 46th Anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War

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This is an opinion article may not necessarily represent khazen.org views 

by nationalinterest.org -- Maya Carlin -- The bloody civil conflict that swept Lebanon on this day in 1975 resulted in more than 150,000 fatalities and 300,000 injuries. Tens of thousands of people currently remain displaced within Lebanon. Although the regional and international context that contributed to the civil conflict is different today, Lebanon again is in crisis. The power vacuum that allowed Hezbollah to seize control in Lebanon is starting to reappear. As economic devastation, corruption, political turmoil, and civil unrest continue to keep Beirut on the brink of collapse, the country is at risk of Tehran’s expanding footprint. Prior to the civil war, Lebanon was a functioning multi-sectarian country, with Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims making up the majority of the population. The mid-twentieth century brought regional shifts which altered the fabric of Beirut. The establishment of Israel, the surge of Pan-Arabism, and the arrival of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were crucial factors that helped catalyze the conflict that would consume Beirut for fifteen years.

The PLO-supported Lebanese National Movement (LNM) arose during the early years of the war. This pan-Arabist front was comprised of Sunni Muslims and Arab nationalists. In opposition, the Phalanges Christian democratic political party contained the Maronite population. Although tensions between the two groups escalated in the mid to late twentieth century, two key events directly triggered the onset of the war. On April 13, 1975, a gunman opened fire on a church in a Christian suburb in Eastern Lebanon, killing four people. The Phalangists claimed the perpetrator was an LNM guerilla. Hours later, a Phalangist gunman ambushed a bus carrying mostly Palestinian passengers, killing twenty-seven on board. As retaliations continued to unfold, PLO guerilla fighters were able to expand their armed struggle against Israel. The group’s expulsion from the Hashemite Kingdom in 1970 and arrival in Lebanon gave them a tactical advantage to attack the Jewish State from the border. Israel responded to their assaults from the border by invading southern Lebanon twice, in 1978 and 1982.

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President Michel Suleiman Message for Ramadan

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نَلِجُ عَتَبَةَ شهر النور والعبادة الصادقة، هذا العام، بالتزامن مع "١٣ نيسان"، علّ ألم  هذه الذكرى وشؤمها يتبدّد ببركة رمضان وصيام الصائمين ودعاءاتهم، فنَعْتبِرُ منها ولا تُعاد، فنسير بهدى هذا الشهر الفضيل إلى فطرٍ سعيدٍ وإلى فرجٍ من ضيق ووباء، وإلى الخير للبناننا والعَزاء للمفجوعين والشفاء والصحّة للبشر أجمعين.
أقرَن ربّ العالمين، حلول رمَضان الكريم، بإرساء روح التآخي والتعاضد والاعتدال والحوار، أعاده الله على الجميع باليُمن والبركة وبالصحّة والسلام وبأفضل الأحوال.

رمضان كريم

Lebanon Needs Urgent Help, Analysts Say

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  By Dale Gavlak - voanews.com -- - The International Monetary Fund says Lebanon won’t pull itself out of its economic crisis until a new government is formed to start long-stalled reforms. But Lebanese analysts say they are being held hostage by a corrupt political class and need outside help to break the logjam to create conditions that bring the country back from the brink. One suggestion is to set up a temporary United Nations trusteeship council for Lebanon to get the country back on its feet. By defaulting on its $1.2 billion Eurobond debt last year, Lebanon’s currency crashed and its economy shrank by 25 percent. Jihad Azour, head of the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East department told Reuters that addressing Lebanon’s dire economic crisis now “requires a comprehensive approach” with multiple financial and governance reforms. He warned that “in (the) absence of a new government that can lead this transformation, it’s very difficult to expect that the situation will in itself improve.”

But Professor Habib Malik of the Lebanese American University told VOA that the Lebanese people are caught in a vice between the political warlords and the de-facto power, the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. “The rest of the world has pretty much taken the position: Form a government, start implementing reforms and then we’re going to help," Malik said. "That’s like telling the fox, ‘We’re going to put you in charge of the chicken coop and once you take care of the chickens, we’ll come and help.’ These people will not implement any reforms that will in any way diminish their theft, power and control. Second is, ‘You, Lebanese have to deal with Hezbollah on your own.’ That’s like telling the hostage with a gun to his head: ‘You have to free yourself from your captor and then we’ll come and help you.’ That never happens in a hostage situation either.” Economist Toufic Gaspard, a former senior advisor to the Lebanese finance minister and to the IMF said he doesn’t see the resumption of economic growth for Lebanon without financial and fiscal cleanup. "Therein lies the problem because the political system is one of sharing of spoils, not increasing the spoils. So, when there would be fiscal or financial reform, whatever it is, they are going to come up against the problem of this political system that the authorities are more interested in sharing the spoils than anything else," Gaspard said.

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