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Apr. 15, 2005 Lebanon has a new Prime Minister. His name is Najib Mikati, and he is described as being moderately pro Syrian. What exactly does that mean? That he is moderatley in favor of his country being ruled from Damascus? That he is moderately in favor of Baathist dictatorships? I consider myself an optimist when it comes to the future of the middle east, but not without caution. Syria simply can't afford to let Lebanon go, and Lebanons President, Emile Lahoud, doesn't want them to go. Syria has promised that it will have all of its troops out of Lebanon by the end of this month. Even if Syria keeps its word, a questionable outcome, it will almost certainly try to keep Lebanon under its sphere of influence by other means. The opposition must press on. Syria underestimated them when they assissinated the former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. Still Syria has many friends and allies in Lebanon. Hizballah being fisrt among them. They have organized counter demostrations, counter revolution demostrations if you will, and even after a Syrian withdrawl can cause havoc in the country. Syria first occupied the country on the pretext of ending the civil war, having Hezbollah try to start another one to justify another occupation is not outside the realm of possibility. It is an outside chance I admit, most likely they will satisfy themselves with controlling the lebanese government from behind the scences. Let's hope that fails, just as it did for Russia in the Ukraine. There are great opportunities here for democracy in the least democratic area of the world. We have limited elections in Saudi Arabia, promise of change in Egypt(how sincere that is remains to be seen) a democratic government in Iraq, A revolution in Lebanon that could spill into Syria, and a tyrannical theocracy in Iran that is teetering on the edge. If the world had listened to the common wisdom nothing would be changing. So let's forget common wisdom and keep up the pressure. Lebanon must truly be free for the democratic wave to continue in the middle east. ------------ About the author: Craig Chamberlain has written more than 100 articles for Useless-Knowledge.com. Email: craig_chamberlain@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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