Delusions of grandeur
The Daily Star/ Sep. 17, 2016 |
The Lebanese discovered Friday morning that their greatest concern had been resolved: They would finally have a president. However, as is often the case with such euphoric and unexpected experiences, they woke up soon after, realizing it had been but a dream.
But this particular dream was not the byproduct of an unusually rich supper the previous night, but in fact a result of the superficiality of Lebanon’s bankrupt media which, in its zeal to obtain a scoop at any cost, jumped without verification on a report by a source that suggested all hurdles to the presidency had been removed and Michel Aoun would soon become the country’s next head of state.
Of course, by lunchtime the source had denied and rescinded any such statement, which only served to underscore the media’s immaturity and complete lack of professionalism, which is nothing less than an insult to the higher standards of true journalism.
But what’s really astounding is that the even after the report was disproved and the euphoria faded, members of Aoun’s party were still living in an alternate reality where the presidency was in their pocket and these muppets had actually begun to engineer the setup of the Cabinet and state institutions.
There can be no excuse for such behavior. The Lebanese people have suffered from enough fabrications and lies to last them a lifetime, and the last thing they need is irresponsible declarations that callously play with their emotions. These are the actions of children and certainly cannot be condoned when carried out by supposed professionals, or those cowboys pretending to be politicians who, unfortunately, continue to impact our lives.
Future scoffs at notion of Hariri backing Aoun for president
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/Sep. 17, 2016
BEIRUT: Senior Future Movement officials Friday scoffed at media reports claiming that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri had decided to support MP Michel Aoun’s presidential bid, dismissing them as nothing more than an FPM dream.
They also reiterated the Future bloc’s commitment to supporting Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy to fill the top Christian post left vacant since the end of former President Michel Sleiman’s term in May 2014.
Asked to comment on reports that officials of the Free Patriotic Movement were spreading the idea that Hariri members of his bloc would attend a Parliament session on Sept. 28 to vote to elect Aoun president, a senior Future source told The Daily Star the notion “is entirely baseless. It is wishful thinking and an act of madness. It’s a midsummer dream.”
“We are committed to supporting MP Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy,” the source said, painting a gloomy picture about an early election of a Lebanese president. “Nothing will happen before the U.S. presidential elections [in November]. Regional and international powers want to know what kind of a deal would be reached [on regional conflicts] with the next U.S. president,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Future MP Ammar Houri emphatically denied reports claiming that Nader Hariri, chief of Hariri’s staff, had contacted Aoun to inform him of Hariri’s decision to attend the Sept. 28 Parliament session to vote for him.
“Nader Hariri is unaware of this matter,” Houri told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. Later speaking to The Daily Star, Houri said: “The Future Movement’s stance on the presidency has not changed. We still support Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh.”
Asked if Future support for Aoun, who is backed by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Forces and some March 8 allies for the presidency, is out of the question, Houri said: “We support MP Frangieh.”
Houri stressed that Hariri, who is currently in France, will not launch any new initiative aimed at breaking the presidential deadlock, now in its third year, when he returns to Beirut.
“[Former] Prime Minister Hariri last year announced an initiative by endorsing MP Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy for the presidency. The ball is now in the court of the other [March 8] side,” he said. “The other side must come up with new ideas or initiatives to resolve the presidential crisis.” Frangieh’s nomination was part of an internationally backed initiative aimed at ending the presidential vacuum.
The presidential race is currently pitting Aoun against Frangieh, who is backed by Speaker Nabih Berri, Hariri, MP Walid Jumblatt and some independent lawmakers.
Former MP Ghattas Khoury, an adviser to Hariri, said after meeting LF chief Samir Geagea Tuesday that Hariri’s return to Beirut would revive the presidency issue in a different manner. He did not elaborate.
Commenting on Khoury’s statement, some media reports said that the head of the Future Movement, increasingly losing hope with the candidacies of Aoun and Frangieh being able to end the presidential void, might resort to searching for a third, consensual candidate acceptable to the rival March 8 and March 14 camps.But Houri denied that Hariri might resort to this option.
Last month, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, head of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc, advised the FPM to stop betting on a change of heart within his bloc to back Aoun’s presidential bid.
Aoun has been counting on support from Hariri to boost his chances for the presidency. A number of lawmakers from Aoun’s Change and Reform parliamentary bloc have said that the FPM was still waiting for a final response from Hariri to the ongoing negotiations between the FPM and the Future Movement over the presidency issue.
MP Walid Khoury from the FPM said that channels of communication between his party and the Future Movement have been “open for a while and might crystallize in the next few days.” He neither denied nor confirmed that phone contact was made between Aoun and Nader Hariri on the issue.
Referring to the FPM’s planned escalatory measures against the government over alleged marginalization of Christians in state posts, Khoury told Voice of Lebanon: “Street protests are not directed against anyone. They are meant to raise the voice and say ‘Enough injustice’ amid the complex situation.”
In addition to boycotting Cabinet sessions over the extension of senior military officials’ terms, the FPM announced Wednesday that it would stage protests on Sept. 28 and Oct. 13 in response to perceived slights in the Cabinet and at national dialogue sessions which have been indefinitely suspended.
But Minister of State for Administrative Reform Nabil de Freij from the Future bloc implicitly criticized FPM leader and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil’s recent escalatory statements against the party’s opponents, saying such statements would lead only to further extremism.
“I am one of those who consider the high-tone sectarian rhetoric as harmful to Christians in this country. When this country was founded, it had one concept, which is that of moderation,” de Freij told reporters after meeting Beirut Metropolitan Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi.
“Unfortunately, the statements and remarks we hear today from some parties who consider themselves representatives of Christians in Lebanon – they don’t represent me [as] a Christian,” he said. He added that Bassil’s escalatory speeches in the past few days would only lead to counterextremism that would jeopardize sectarian coexistence in Lebanon.
“Everyone must return to some rationalism and realism and each one must understand and accept the other’s concerns. This is the only way to save our country,” de Freij said.