A brief of tonight’s News Bulletin:
Is the date for establishing the government nearing, or has the predicted government grown more difficult and distant, following the broadcast statement of Gibran Bassil, the chairman of the “Free Patriotic Movement”? The second scenario is more likely, since Bassil launched a sharp and targeted attack on Saad Hariri, the prime minister-designate, accusing him of a host of factors, ranging from a coup against the Covenant to backstabbing and bullying abroad to undercutting the idea of national cooperation. The accusations are serious and dangerous, indicating that the formation of the government is still a long way off, as evidenced by Bassil’s announcement that the movement would not participate in the Hariri government, and it is a maneuvering proposal, as to how Hariri forms a government in real and deep agreement with the major sectarian parties. What about the Lebanese Armed Forces?The situation is compounded further by the fact that Bassil made an indirect attack on the Speaker of Parliament when he accused Parliament of indifference since he is not in charge of passing reform measures that do not require the approval of the government. Isn’t President Nabih Berri supposed to get a message? Isn’t the message aimed squarely at the government program that Berri is promoting?
The government’s pessimism reinforces what is evident, which is that we are currently living in a failing, anomalous, and crippled system. The reason is found in people’s hearts, not in books. This is what motivated Maronite Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros Rahi to call for an international conference on Lebanon in his sermon today, in order to strengthen the Taif Agreement and execute it in its entirety. Will the political forces respond to this appeal and work for its fulfillment? Or will its deadly quotas and simulations continue, causing the state to collapse indefinitely, leaving the country on the verge of extinction?
