Yes, this is Lebanon ..."where the winners act as the losers and where the losers act as the winners" quoting professor Ghassan Karam
Syria through its ally ... Hezbollah, the only heavily armed militant group in Lebanon is setting unattainable conditions for Prime minister designate Saad Hariri to meet prior to giving the green light to its allies over participation in the new government.
One of the conditions that Syria is demanding is complete normalization of the relations with Lebanon. This, according to political observers , can only happen at the expense of the Lebanese martyrs that were assassinated since February 2005 starting with former PM Rafik Hariri. Syria has openly stated that it will refuse to cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, The La Hague based international court which will be trying the suspects in the Hariri murder and the crimes that followed. Syria was accused of being behind the murder of Hariri and all the subsequent crimes
Syria according to local media reports also wants Hariri to visit Syria prior to forming the government . Again this is being viewed as blackmail by many analysts , since Syrian president Bashar al Assad will use the occasion to exert more pressure on the majority.
Assad according to media reports has presented a long list of tough questions and conditions on future Syrian- Lebanese relations to Hariri , through the Saudi Arabian mediators. Hariri flue to Jeddah Wednesday to present the answers to the Saudi mediators and returned early Thursday morning to Beirut . Yesterday the Saudi information minister Abdel Aziz Khoja flew to Damascus to hand over Hariri's answers to Assad.
For how long March 14 will allow itself to be blackmailed ? Time for March 14 to act as the winning majority and set its own conditions for participation by the opposition in the next government.
Remember this is not 2005 when the opposition claimed to be the real majority. This is not 2005 when general Aoun claimed to represent 70 % of the Christians vote . This is 2009 that showed the real size of the opposition, including General Aoun, who was considered the biggest loser . Losers shouldn’t be allowed to act as the winners.
Friday
08:25pm 20 Gunmen driving 4 four-wheel drive cars with no plate numbers and 16 motorcycles broke into ISF garage in the Lailaki region
attacked and tied up 16 people including ISF investigators, stole two buses and destroyed a large number of cars inside and outside the garage.
7:15pm Military Intelligence arrested H.R and his son A.R both Naqoura residents on charges of spying for Israel.
4:45pm Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Qassem received a Jamaa Islamia delegation headed by Ibrahim al-Masri. Discussions focused on learning from past experiences and working for Islamic unity and affirming the choice of resistance.
02:18pm President Suleiman: political stability and security are important factors in the success of the summer season and I expect the arrival of large number Lebanese , Arab and foreign tourists
02:11pm Mashnuq ruled out the possibility of a Hariri visit to Damascus before the formation of the government
02:08pm State Security: one member of a gang that terrorized its victims and robbed them was arrested
02:06pm MP Murr: Saudi Arabia's efforts in the negotiations between Syria and Saudi Arabia are positive in removing the obstacles facing the government formation without outside intervention in Lebanese affairs
01:49pm Carlos Eddeh told "MTV:" the people who voted in the elections voted against the Hezbollah project and the victory of march 14 was on this bases
1;40 pm Hezbollah's Nawwaf Mousawi denied yesterday's report of Al Markaziyah News Agency Thursday in which it revealed that the party's Shoura Council has decided not to take part in the next Cabinet . He stressed that Hezbollah is for "real and effective participation" in the new government of national unity.
1;30 pm Reuters - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued an informal invitation to President Barack Obama to visit Damascus for talks, in a sign that relations between the two countries may gradually be thawing. "We would like to welcome him to Syria, definitely," Assad told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Friday. "I am very clear about this."
1 :25pm Al-Jazeera: A huge fire erupts in the Tourism Ministry building in Syria, causing significant property damages
1:01 pm Al Hayat : French President Nicola Sarkozy's political chief of staff Claude Gueant rejected veto power for the opposition and stressed during a recent visit to Damascus that the parliamentary majority of Lebanon has the right to proper representation in the Cabinet. French sources believe that Damascus "wants everything, without giving anything in return."
12:58 The search for the black boxes of the Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic ocean has been extended
12:55 Lebanese Army leadership estimated that areas affected by the recent fires at about 962 acres of fruit trees and forest and weeds
12:28 Salam : Today is the most pressing option is a government of national unity, which should include a coalition of various political forces
12:19 Iranian ambassador Sheibani after meeting FM Salloukh: We support any effort that ensures the unity of the Lebanese
12:10pm Military prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged four people over cooperation with Israel and providing it with information on civilian and military bases.
12:06 Qaloush, governor of Beirut called for the removal of posters and pictures of candidates , party flags , banners and billboards that are within the administrative Beirut district
11:25 NY Times: The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, arrived in Myanmar on Friday for a journey he has said will be difficult as he seeks the release of the jailed pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or at least a meeting with her.
11:20 Former PM Najib Miqati is hoping for a quick formation of the new cabinet which should be based on true partnership.
10:45 Gemayel told LBC: We want a serious relationship with Syria on sound and clear basis, but we want to know who killed the Lebanese martyrs. Damascus also has to prove its good intentions by dismantling armed Palestinian camps and demarcating the border.
10:29 Ministr Karam told "Future News": we have always been the facilitators in forming a government but we want something commensurate with our representation as the March 14 Christians in the majority
10:00 MP Michel Moussa told LBC: All foreign sides are interfering in Lebanon. We have to take advantage of the positive atmosphere in the Arab world and the region and to bring views closer so that we refuse foreign dictates.
09:38 "Awan newspaper ": Speaker Berri secretly visited Damascus over the past two days and discussed with Syrian officials the overall developments in Lebanon
09:20 Times on-Line: In a first report on the disaster that killed all 228 aboard, the French accident bureau said that the Airbus A330 of Air France Flight 447 had not broken up at altitude as reported earlier by Brazil.... it crashed belly-first into the Atlantic, investigation showed
09:10 Washington Post: Wall Street closed the week with a sharp decline yesterday after a weak labor report stoked investor concerns of a prolonged recession. The report showed that the US jobless rate hit 26-year high of 9.5 percent
09:00 Reuters - US bank regulators closed seven institutions on Thursday, including six banks in Illinois controlled by one family and a small bank in Dallas,Texas bringing the total number of US bank failures to 52 so far this year.
08:51 Visitors to Damascus: the reports about the holding of a three-way summit that includes King Abdullah , Assad and Hariri, is not on the agenda at the moment
08:50 Premier-designate Saad Hariri paid condolences yesterday to the family of Zaina el Miri, who was killed during clashes between Amal and al-Mustaqbal movement supporters in the Beirut neighborhood of Aisha Bakkar last Sunday and urged the victim's family "to trust the state and its institutions like the army and security forces" and expressed hope that the assailants would be brought to justice.
08:45 Ash-Sharq al-Awsat: Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz is to visit Damascus early next week to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
08:44 Sources: President Suleiman is adhering to the principle of : Losers in the elections should not be in the new government
8:32 MP Anwar al-Khalil told VODL: The issue of Hariri’s visit to Syria is being seriously pondered. The visit could come before or immediately after cabinet formation.
8:30 MP Ghazi Youssef told VOL: There are no problems that cannot be solved in cabinet formation. Reports about PM-designate Saad Hariri’s visit to Damascus before government formation are just rumors.
07:37 Fadi Awar told "Voice of Lebanon": the opposition did not back down from any position on key issues and wants to participate in the government on proportional basis. I am satisfied with the security situation, in view of the concern shown by everyone
07:07 Diplomatic sources have revealed that Syria has proposed unattainable conditions through Saudi Arabia including a Hariri's visit to Syria
06:55 March 14 forces alluded to the pressure exerted on the majority in the process of formation of the government and Syrian conditions described as "unrealistic "
06:24 Pharaon told As Safir ": I insist on a ministry in the new government to provide proper representation of Christian community in Beirut
06:20 It is expected that the Christian representation in the next government will be the biggest obstacle once the Syrian obstacle is resolved
06:12 The President will not sign any decree that does not allocate for him seven ministers. He is blaming March 14 which has reportedly echoed during and before the election that it was ready to give the President a veto share in the government
06:03 Well-informed sources: Premier designate Saad Hariri will visit Damascus before the completion of the formation of the cabinet and this is in addition to the visit, which is currently being arranged
05:49 Jumblatt told As Safir : If only a quarter of the security institutions in the country follow the example of the military institution, we would save ourselves a lot of suffering , problems and headaches
05:43 Well-informed sources: Saudi Information minister Khoja arrived yesterday in Damascus, but the arrival of prince Abdul-Aziz bin Abdullah was not confirmed
Thursday
07:50 pm President Barack Obama said that Russia's PM Putin was someone who has "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new" and stressed that Russia must understand that "old Cold War approaches" to relations with the US belong in the past.
O7:30 pm The Washington Post: The White House says Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq to visit U.S. troops and meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He will reiterate the U.S. commitment to carry out President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw combat forces. He also will press Iraqi leaders to make more progress toward political reconciliation.
7:25pm Premier-designate Saad Hariri is offering his condolences to the family of victim Zeina al-Miri in Aicha Bakkar.
7:00 Interior ministry: A Sikorsky N61 firefighting helicopter, which was delivered, to Lebanon two weeks ago, was used for the first time to extinguish a fire in al-Qmatiyeh using 4000 liters of water.
07:10pm March 14 coordinator Fares Soueid rejected Thursday a visit to Syria by the PM-designate Saad Hariri before the formation of the government. "A visit to Syria before a government has been formed for the aim of facilitating the process is rejected both by Hariri and (March 14)," he added
05:10 pm Japan's ambassador to the Vienna-based IAEA, Yukiya Amano was elected by the IAEA's 35-member board of governors as the new chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency to succeed Mohammad al-Baradei
04:58pm Al Markaziyah sources: Hezbollah's Shura Council held a meeting recently and decided not to participate in the new government
04:56pm One person was arrested in Moamalatain when he tried to rent a car using false documents
04:55pm Internal security forces arrested 3 in Akkar wanted in the smuggling of foreigners theft crimes
04:10 pm CNN: Employers in the US cut more jobs than expected in June and unemployment rate climbed for the ninth straight month, hitting 9.5%.
04:04pm US ambassador Sison: The US will is committ
