Who owns Lebanon? | Ya Libnan | Lebanon News Live from Beirut

Who owns Lebanon?

Saturday, 12 April, 2008 @ 4:47 PM

By Ghassan Karam
Special to Ya Libnan
Who owns a country, I mean who is it that really owns a country?

When such a seminal question is raised it is not meant to show an interest in who holds title to property but the question is raised in an effort to get a handle on who in society is empowered to make the important decisions that shape the social, political and economic policies for the state. Who is it that is responsible for the design of the national fabric?

In many parts of the world the above question would be dismissed not because it is not important but because citizens view such a question as being very so elementary that they would be surprised about even the need to ask it. They would regard it as being the epitome of triteness and banality. It would be taken for granted that in the same way that the sun shines every morning the stakeholders, the everyday citizens own the nation and that elected officials are their only to serve the public.

Elected officials are held accountable for every one of their actions and if they cannot deliver on their promises then their term of service will become short indeed. Unfortunately this is not the case in the Arabic speaking world including Lebanon. This is a world where such a question is not raised because to contemplate the possibility of ownership by anyone besides the anointed tribal lords is tantamount to sacrilege.
What is truly disconcerting about this political setup is the daily scenes of the victims praising their victimizers. That is nothing short of feudal societies where the serfs gave everything that they have, including their lives, for the protection of the Lord of the Manor.

The mindless shouts of "By blood, by soul, we sacrifice for you Bashar" is not that much different from the hoodlums in Beirut who roam the street terrorizing neighborhoods because of a 2 minute comedic sketch that made some light hearted fun of their hallowed leader or those that take to the streets in their cars filling the night sky with thousands upon thousands of rounds from their illegal guns just because their tribal leader gave a speech on TV.

It would be easy to blame the Lebanese political class for the huge problems that the country is facing and that would not be wrong. But the real failure in Lebanon, just as well as the rest of the Arab world, is the failure for responsible citizenship to make an appearance. It is time that we, the citizens, wake up and take control of our destiny. The country belongs to us and we have to hold the feet of the politicians to the fire so to speak. Traditional politicians and traditional tribal lords belong to a traditional world that is hanging to life because of our failure to assert ourselves. If Lebanon is to grow and prosper then we, the citizens, must change. The blame for failure rests upon our shoulders more so than the shoulders of our failed politicians. Democracy demands that we become involved, active and that we insist on accountability. If we do not make this transition then the best that we can hope for is a continuation of the current status quo. That would be tragic.

Ghassan Karam welcomes your correspondence at wp.karam@gmail.com

Source: Ya Libnan Exclusive

McCain claims he can drive Hezbollah out of Lebanon | Ya Libnan | Lebanon News Live from Beirut

McCain claims he can drive Hezbollah out of Lebanon

Sunday, 13 April, 2008 @ 6:44 PM

Former alternate U.S. Representative to the United Nations, Walid Maalouf, quoted presidential candidate John McCain as pledging to "drive Hezbollah out of Lebanon."

The pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat also quoted Maalouf, an American citizen of Lebanese descent, as saying President George Bush has promised not to conclude any deals at the expense of the international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

The newspaper interviewed Maalouf in London on the occasion of publishing his new book on memories in Lebanon prior to immigrating to the United States.

Maalouf said he met McCain during the latter's campaign and he "told me in answering a question: I'll drive Hizbullah out of Lebanon."

McCain's Pledge to Israel

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post during his March trip to Israel, McCain said Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon's Hizbullah, both threaten the interests of the United States and the West in general.

"If Hamas, Hizbullah succeed here, they are going to succeed everywhere," he said.

"They are dedicated to the extinction of everything that the U.S., Israel and the West believe and stand for," he said.

"So America does have an interest in what happens here, far above and beyond our alliance with the State of Israel," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee added.

Sources: Ya Libnan, Naharnet

Lebanon's government needs to grow up

Lebanon's government needs to grow up

By Ghassan Karam,
Special to Ya Libnan

There comes a time in the life of individuals when they pass that very specific stage in life when they are no longer treated as juveniles but as adults who are responsible for the consequences of their acts.

The same is true for nations. Nationhood is a privilege that carries with it immense responsibilities the least of which is the ability to govern and demonstrate a strong commitment to law and order. Unfortunately the current Lebanese government has failed, thus far, to demonstrate that it ought to be treated as an adult.

Some facts are incontrovertible and are clear to all. The Syrian presence in Lebanon has been costly in human, economic, political and social terms. Actually, an argument can be made that Syrian hegemony has robbed the Lebanese state of 30 years of development and has thus contributed to the existence of the dysfunctional state that Lebanon does not feel capable of overcoming. But such an argument must be deemed to be faulty.

The logic for the inability to recognize right from wrong is similar to offering those brought up in poverty and trying circumstances a justification for doing the wrong thing. The reverse should be true. Those that were exploited and those that were taken advantage of must rise above the temptation to get even and have a special obligation to do the right thing. It is easy to take revenge and it is easy to demand a pound of flesh but what is needed is the ability to transcend these primeval, base and sinister motivations. What is needed is the ability to grow up, act responsibly and take a stand for what is just and what is right.

Pan Arabism is your father's ideology, and to expect a toothless Arab League summit to muster the resolve to come up with a solution to what is essentially an internal affair is an exercise in futility. How can we possibly expect outsiders who do not understand the dynamics of the domestic Lebanese crisis to come up with a lasting solution is laughable and boggles the mind. How can we expect autocratic authoritarian regimes to come up with democratic solutions? Do these leaders understand what a democracy is and do they have an interest in nurturing one? Of course not.

We have said this before but it must be said again. The only way to offer a permanent solution to the Lebanese crisis is to have it homegrown and truthful. The Lebanese state cannot withstand half-solutions and meaningless gestures any longer. It is time that we face the hard reality that sectarianism is the problem and that one cannot pretend to be on the side of law and order and yet act against the letter and the spirit of the law.

General Suleiman might be a very capable individual and a committed patriot but he is prevented by the constitution from seeking the office of the presidency. March 14 and others should just cast their votes for someone else. But in order to hold presidential parliamentary deliberations the Chamber of Deputies must be in session and no individual, not even Mr. Berri, should be allowed to hold a nation hostage. He must be removed from office. Mr. Berri does not seem to understand the simple fact that the Chamber of Deputies is a separate branch of government than the cabinet. Even if he is right that the Cabinet is illegitimate then he is obligated to correct that error through parliamentary discussions in an open Chamber of Deputies instead of one whose doors he has ordered padlocked.

The process of presidential elections must be opened to all Lebanese irrespective of sect, gender, national origin or sexual orientation and obviously the presidential elections must not be predicated on the allocation of ministers in the new cabinet or on who the PM designate is to be. And last but not least Hezbollah must not become a party to a project that it opposes. Their place is in the opposition until such time that they can muster enough votes to form the government. All what is needed to resolve the Lebanese impasse is a group of politicians that believe in democracy, trust the people and have the courage to be guided by what is good for the country. If we fail to deal with the above then the long term prospects for a country called Lebanon are dim at best.

Ghassan Karam welcomes your correspondence at wp.karam@gmail.com

Source: Ya Libnan