After much bargaining and negotiations it seems that just maybe Lebanon might have a government again, with a cabinet of 30 being announced today. Although one member of the new cabinet (Talal Arslan leader of the LDP) has already refused to participate as he isn't happy with his position with his supporters reportedly blocking roads in protest. He would prefer a more senior position with control over a bigger Ministry and perhaps more opportunities to dole out patronage and to privilege his support base and in a press conference as I type is saying that he was not willing to take such a low position.
This could bring to an end months of uncertainty since the previous Hariri government was forced into collapse and we now see a situation with roughly twenty in the Hezbollah bloc and ten in the so called 'middle' bloc which is designed to prevent any radical decisions being made. Due to the particular oddities of Lebanese politics the positions are spread in a specific way to balance the different religious and political groupings with the Maronite christians retaining key ministries and Hezbollah keeping a low profile and only officially holding 2 relatively minor Ministries while continuing to wield a large amount of influence.
The consequences are difficult to see in the short term, as its hard to see any big changes being made by this new Government and it will be interesting to see if the Hezbollah position changes with the continuing situation in Syria.
Things are still relatively quiet in Beirut after the madness of friday, although things are still proceeding apace in Syria where the army seems to be in control of pretty much the whole area around Jisr Al-Shughour and has according to Syrian State TV been unearthing mass graves of security forces. Rumours coming out of the north of the country on Saturday indicated that the army was pursuing a scorched earth policy and burning crops and houses in villages around Jisr Al-Shughour. Still with the few independent journalists in the country embedded with the army and not allowed to report freely it is pretty impossible to know exactly what is going on.
With not much news to report on yesterday we went out to a friends place in the afternoon to help cook a large Lebanese meal for a big crowd at a place called Zico House (http://www.zicohouse.org/) for an evening of drums and good food! Pictures will follow when I get home from work! It was a lot of fun if pretty tiring cooking for around 70 people! The coming week will probably contain uncertainty if the government will hold after the first person refused to participate and whether more will follow or a replacement can be quickly found. It will also be a week of continued focus on Syria as it remains to be seen if the army can continue to move around the country putting down protests after the huge protests and bloody crackdown on friday.
This could bring to an end months of uncertainty since the previous Hariri government was forced into collapse and we now see a situation with roughly twenty in the Hezbollah bloc and ten in the so called 'middle' bloc which is designed to prevent any radical decisions being made. Due to the particular oddities of Lebanese politics the positions are spread in a specific way to balance the different religious and political groupings with the Maronite christians retaining key ministries and Hezbollah keeping a low profile and only officially holding 2 relatively minor Ministries while continuing to wield a large amount of influence.
The consequences are difficult to see in the short term, as its hard to see any big changes being made by this new Government and it will be interesting to see if the Hezbollah position changes with the continuing situation in Syria.
Things are still relatively quiet in Beirut after the madness of friday, although things are still proceeding apace in Syria where the army seems to be in control of pretty much the whole area around Jisr Al-Shughour and has according to Syrian State TV been unearthing mass graves of security forces. Rumours coming out of the north of the country on Saturday indicated that the army was pursuing a scorched earth policy and burning crops and houses in villages around Jisr Al-Shughour. Still with the few independent journalists in the country embedded with the army and not allowed to report freely it is pretty impossible to know exactly what is going on.
With not much news to report on yesterday we went out to a friends place in the afternoon to help cook a large Lebanese meal for a big crowd at a place called Zico House (http://www.zicohouse.org/) for an evening of drums and good food! Pictures will follow when I get home from work! It was a lot of fun if pretty tiring cooking for around 70 people! The coming week will probably contain uncertainty if the government will hold after the first person refused to participate and whether more will follow or a replacement can be quickly found. It will also be a week of continued focus on Syria as it remains to be seen if the army can continue to move around the country putting down protests after the huge protests and bloody crackdown on friday.
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