In today’s news bulletin:

• What does the conclusion of the investigation with Geagea mean?
• Lebanon confirms the strength of its relations with Arab countries
• Honorary consulates… Bassil’s electoral centers?

Poor Najib Mikati. He didn‘t have the chance yet to run the government properly. Before he reached the Grand Palace, he was preceded by problems and crises. From the Iranian diesel, to Hezbollah’s efforts to remove Tariq al-Bitar, to the Tayouneh incidents and the attempt to invade Ain al-Rummaneh, to the diplomatic storm sparked by Information Minister George Kordahi. All of them are difficult problems, which shook the government structure in the depth, and made its fate in jeopardy.

And if the first three crises solutions can be postponed and suspended, the diplomatic crisis with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and consequently with the Arab Gulf cannot be postponed, especially since the Gulf threatens sanctions imposed on Lebanon and the Lebanese if the handling does not take place as soon as possible.

What will Najib Mikati do in this case? Will he save his government by sacrificing the information minister, or will he also be able to rotate the Arab and Gulf angles, just as he rotates angles locally?

Judicially, Fadi Akiki sealed the report of Dr. Samir Geagea’s case and has not requested any further step so far. So, wgat does this mean? Legally, Akiki is still able to claim against Samir Geagea, will he? Or will the uproar over his arbitrary, discretionary decisions prevent him from doing so?

In parallel, what happened on the Bkerke-Maarab line today once again demonstrated the depth of the Lebanese commitment to two issues. First: the insistence on reaching the truth about the crime of bombing the port, and second: not making any trade-offs between the port case and the Tayouneh case. Consequently, the initiative that was launched from Ain al-Tineh yesterday, and whose source was President Nabih Berri, not Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros al-Rahi, died before it was born. It was built on a bargain with which the blood of the victims of the port bombing could go down the drain, which is unacceptable by all standards. No to any kind of bartering, because it can only pass over the blood of the victims of the harbor crime and over the truth!