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43.4%ANMag Issue 18 Editorial
The Black Sheep and the Famous Anchorwoman
By Shadi Tabbara, Editor-in-Chief
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – What if Syria was behind the assassinations of the Lebanese anti-Syrian leaders? What if what we proclaim about Syria was actually true and proved to be concrete? Will that really affect the fate of Lebanon and finally ease the atmosphere? Or will it just create other problems due to its vast portion of Lebanese supporters? Sometimes we think of our national duties and our responsibilities toward the Arab nation that we [Lebanese] are part of. We keep wondering why all these issues are bursting, one after the other, and we wait. The Palestinians have been waiting for 40 years. Will the Lebanese also wait or will we learn from our predecessor’s mistakes and act?
The facts confirm that there are no answers to that last question. We will have to wait for the Lebanese to wake up, for their leaders to “make the decision,” and for the countries financing these leaders to take the real decision. On the one hand, if it were left to the March 14 alliance, we would have presented an economic reform and later on avoided it. On the other, if it were left to the March 8 league, we could have voted again for the president who breaches the constitution on a daily basis, seized the parliament, resigned and/or protested for the rest of the day.
The Conspiracy Theory
Lebanon is a victim of its surroundings. The only way to solving (or escalading) the Middle East issue with Israel will be through Lebanon. The main cause of keeping Lebanon a hostage is to make the neighboring countries gain some time for a final bargain when the different players will have equal authority, of course at the expense of the Lebanese people (Iran-Syria alliance vs. Israel).
The Captivation strategy is clear. Clashes in the North: the Lebanese army is struggling with the remains of Fath al-Islam in the Nahr el-Bared area and the surrounding; revelations in the South: anonymous missiles launched at the northern part of the occupied territories and terrorist attacks engaged against the Spanish regiment (U.N. peace keeping troops in general); no predictions in the center (Capital): the March 8 protest; and finally, the periodic bombings and assassinations across the rest of the Lebanese territory.
The Very Dumb Anchorwoman
Some people are dumb. Others can exceed our expectations and reveal the real person inside and their true intentions. The best example till the day is Ms. Sawsan Darwish who did not only expose what goes behind the scenes of one of the Lebanese television stations (NBN, or Nabih Berri Network, said National Broadcast Network) but made the channel lose the rest of its credibility. Firing her does not solve the sectarian crisis the different Lebanese communities have reached. Hoping for someone (Minister Ahmad Fatfat) to die is inhumane. Equally, gloating at a dead person (Member of Parliament Walid Eido) is just sad. This shows the low level the Lebanese are integrating to their culture and demonstrates the increasing hatred between the different parties.
Nevertheless,
“We, the Team Members of ANMag present our deepest condolences to the family of the Member of Parliament Walid Eido and to the Lebanese society and hope that the criminals behind this terrible tragedy get punished”
The Black Sheep
On Tuesday, June 26, 2007, a United Nations Security Council assessment team urged the deployment of “international border security experts” to assist in the prevention of arms smuggling from Syria.
On Wednesday, June 27, 2007, the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora accused Syria of sending arms to [Lebanese] Palestinian camps and said that he would raise the issue with the Arab League.
On Thursday, June 28, 2007, Ban Ki-Moon accused Syria of breaching the arms embargo along the Lebanese-Syrian border, and this "constitute[s] a major impediment to the establishment of a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution as envisaged in Resolution 1701."
Syria has become the black sheep of the West and the Arab countries. Its close ties with Iran will eventually backfire at its identity as an Arab state and will hurt [even more] its ties with the rest of the Arab world. Syria has to decide whether it wants to keep its close alliance with the powerful Persians and discard its attachment to the rest of the passive Arab world or whether it wants to go back to its roots and accept the lost fate of the Arabs. Nevertheless, if Syria is in fact responsible for all the dilemmas in Lebanon, not only will it get its share of punishment from the international community, but it will create a solid enemy that once was its ally.