Prime ministers ignore collapse: no composition, no inflection!

Al-Akhbar writes: Negotiations to form the government have stopped. The prime minister-designate is waiting for the foreign “password” to submit his training, otherwise he will not “risk” losing the post of prime minister. Saad Hariri’s actions indicate indifference to the collapse the country is suffering and the duty to form a government that makes decisions that protect popular groups. The blame also falls on Hassan Diab, with the different degree of responsibility. General “state of emergency” forces him to activate the interim government 19 days have passed since the last visit of the prime minister in charge of forming the government, Saad Hariri, to the Baabda Palace, before the country’s officials were granted. They themselves “snow holidays”. The composition negotiations are suspended in a way that implies that the “future” is in front of them and for them, allowing them to relax on a sensitive and fundamental issue to try to stop the collapse. Saad Hariri is no longer in a rush to form a government, after betting that the nomination and formation of the government would not take more than a few days. His associates apologize that French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Lebanon this month “will include new proposals.” First, there is an exaggerated optimism that Macron’s visit is the key to the solution, while the true “veto” is imposed by the United States of America, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; And secondly, a “recognition” that the knot is external and that it can only be resolved through the intervention of the Western powers. Hariri always tries to separate the inability to form a government from regional and international pressures and portray it as a mere disagreement among the “neighborhood kids” over how footballers are distributed in the local team. The words of those close to him deny it, referring to the threats and public positions launched by US and Saudi officials, in addition to the Emirati action, that any government that includes Hezbollah representatives, directly or indirectly, will lead to the collapse of Lebanon on the head of all its inhabitants. These forces, which used to present themselves as “the sponsor and friend” of Lebanon, are using its people and institutions as “hostages” to its hostility to Hezbollah, to force it to yield. Giving up their customs does not mean “ceasing their wickedness” in the country, but more and more “greed” and imposing more conditions and continuing the extortion process until they ensure their interests and the security of “Israel” in the region. Furthermore, it is naive to believe and commercialize that a weak state like the Lebanese, devoid of power and sovereignty, will be able to produce a new government “independently” and isolated from regional and international developments.

Nothing prevents Hariri from presenting a government formation to the President of the Republic unless he realizes that the composition of the Lebanese government is set at the pace of the US administration led by Donald Trump, who spends his last weeks in office, but is behaves as if he were in the first half of his term. An escalation against Iran and China, military threats, an acceleration of the signing of association agreements between Israel and the Gulf, preparations for new coups in Latin America … and Lebanon is not absent from this “hostile agenda”. It is not true that it is “marginal” to the US administration, and its importance lies only in being part of the larger archive called “subjugating Iran.” Washington is now dealing with Hezbollah as an independent force, and its combat capabilities have increased in what has become an existential concern for “Israel.”

In the same context, the pressures from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Hariri’s (former) sponsors, are on Lebanon. Defeating Hezbollah is the priority for these countries. On their way to “achieving” their goal, the Saudis and Emiratis are not averse to inflicting the severest punishment on the Lebanese. The intensity of the battle increased after the signing of strategic partnership agreements between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and “Israel”, with the blessing of Saudi Arabia.
Faced with the dangerous regional and international scenario, Lebanon is going through one of its worst financial and monetary crises. It is “destined” to fight it with a government that has renounced even the practice of doing business in its strict sense, and a prime minister-designate is afraid to make any decision that does not have international coverage, and a “bank party” that wants Theft of what was left of state property after stealing money from depositors and accumulating huge profits from public funds, merchants and monopolists are exploiting the crisis to build their palaces on it, and a people that is more than half them below the poverty line and that today threatens to stop supporting basic goods without finding an alternative. The country’s actors do not agree on any file. Their differences impede the search for practical solutions to get out of the crisis, but is unable to discuss how to reduce the severity of the collapse and save people, especially social classes that can no longer resist.

What does Saad Hariri want? He wants to remain prime minister-designate, pending “instruction” that allows him to present his training. Before that, he would not take any steps that would “remove him from the government palace,” according to those familiar with his position. Absent from Al Hariri’s mind is that the position of prime minister is not a job to close deals and earn money, but rather a “responsibility”, and whoever seeks them has a duty to take the initiative, offer solutions and overcome. existing internal contracts, to strengthen the local front and enforce it in the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But if Hariri insists on distancing himself, it cannot be overlooked that there is still a “prime minister” in government offices.

Diab fears that any decision outside of “business classification” will land him in prison without being defended by anyone. The state of financial and health emergency in the country forces one to wonder why Hassan Diab did not initiate the activation of his government’s work and expanded the tasks of doing business with the main objective of alleviating the crisis. In the example of the Lebanese situation, adhering to “doing business within the limited scope” means accelerating the collapse. Diab cites his justification that “no one supports me” and any decision he makes outside of the concept of “doing business” could land him in jail “without anyone defending him.” Furthermore, Diab is always “obsessed” with the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Judge Mahmoud Makiya, the “trustee” of Saad Hariri in Saraya, who behaves as if it is “the constitution”, determining what decisions can be made and those who “oppose” the conduct of business.

Hariri is betting that Macron’s visit to Lebanon this month will bring new proposals, but despite the “stab wounds” to which Diab was subjected from “his father’s house” and forcing his government to resign under the rule of that the “alternative is ready”, and all the issues you can mention and to which you are entitled, However, this does not relieve you of your responsibility. Furthermore, the forces that were part of Diab’s government, especially those that worked to overthrow him and make him a “scapegoat” of the previous stage, are obliged to reduce the impact of his previous mistakes by activating the work of the interim government, resulting in to meetings where crucial decisions are made, such as how to continue to support. It is aimed at the poor classes, and it approves the social protection strategy to take care of them and provide them with basic services … Otherwise, there is no use waiting for Joe Biden to assume the US presidency, or depending on an American-Iranian opening. Waiting means mortgaging the country and the citizens at the gaming table, because the origin of the return to work through nuclear understanding is not guaranteed. The meeting Diab called for ministers concerned about the issue of grants, next Monday, may be a step in the right direction … as long as he is not an orphan.