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Beirut: Sleiman Must Play The Game

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  • Beirut: Sleiman Must Play The Game

    SLEIMAN MUST PLAY THE GAME

    NowLebanon.com
    Thursday, July 3, 2008
    Lebanon

    The time has come for Michel Sleiman to play Christian politics or
    else run the risk of becoming a bit player in what is becoming a very
    nasty bit of power play. While the new president might be applauded for
    his cautious approach to the recent cabinet crisis, the time has come
    for him to step up to the plate and fulfill the role expected of him,
    that of a mediator, a head of state and a Christian figurehead. At
    the moment, his three portfolios are not going to give him much clout
    in the cabinet, if and when it is formed, and so his goal, assuming
    he wishes to have a stake in how the country is 'run', should be to
    develop - as he has said he wants to do - his own parliamentary bloc,
    allowing him influence in the various parliamentary committees and
    by extension have a say in government.

    To achieve this, he must appeal to the street, enlist the support
    of the Patriarch - as well as rekindle the traditional presidential
    alliance with the Armenian community - to avert a catastrophe for
    which the Christians of Lebanon will no doubt pay the price. Indeed,
    on Wednesday, Sleiman must have heard Lebanon's Maronite bishops'
    statement from Bkirki after their monthly meeting in which they
    bemoaned yet another political crisis and declared that the interests
    of any political bloc must never be placed above that of the country.

    Tell that to Sleiman's current nemesis, Michel Aoun, a man who appears
    to be hell bent on putting himself before his country and who is
    in direct confrontation with the new president. Aoun's fear is that
    Sleiman will ascend to the position of Christian zaim he so covets and,
    through the cabinet negotiations, Aoun is doing all he can to undermine
    the new president's credibility and at the same time ensure he gets the
    service portfolios necessary to wage a successful election campaign
    in 2009. It is a cheap maneuver and one that ultimately plays into
    the hands of an opposition that is skillfully allowing Aoun to do
    its dirty work (Hezbollah and Amal are secure that they can deliver
    the crucial services necessary for garnering election votes without
    the service portfolios and have deferred the cabinet horse-trading
    bargaining to their Christian ally).

    The deadline for Sleiman's by-now infamous 48-hour ultimatum to form a
    government came and went without an inch of progress being made, and
    now, to avoid looking like a man who is firing blanks, the president
    must move to a Plan B and gather around him all those who genuinely
    wish to see a government formed without delay and redouble his efforts
    to break the deadlock.
    From: Baghdasarian
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