Berri: no president for you

Berri this time didn’t even bother setting a new date for the presidential election after canceling a session he had scheduled for today. In a press conference from the parliament building, he linked scheduling an election session to receiving a response to his “dialogue” proposal.

Berri, who still maintains that parliament is not closed (closed only to the "illegitimate government", he says), also said he prefers to set a date for the election through the ”dialog roundtable”.

The speaker, representing the Assad regime interests in the country, wants an agreement on an electoral law and the shape of the new government before allowing parliamentarians to meet for any purpose, including electing a president.

Constitutional expert and former MP Hassan Rifai weighed in on Berri's tactics.

Constitutional expert and former MP Hassan Rifai said that Speaker Nabih Berri has no right to postpone the presidential-election session.

“He has to be present in the parliament’s chamber of deputies, and if the required quorum is not available, then he can postpone the session,” Rifai told the Saudi daily Okaz.

“The way Berri has been postponing sessions from his office is a crime punishable by the Lebanese penal code. He has no right to close the parliament,” he added.

According to Rifai, the majority could call on Deputy Speaker MP Farid Makari to hold sessions outside the parliament, as long as they are held in Beirut, in order to elect a president and undertake legislative work.

“The parliament is not to be closed, and MPs have the duty to participate in legislative sessions, especially the presidential session,” Rifai said. (Now Lebanon)

Comments

[Battal Agha]

So let me see. No President, then no Commander in Chief of the Army, then what? The end of Lebanon? When would the MPs react to this crime? Istez Nabih is a traitor to Lebanon. The Chiite Community should react against him and his Hezb allies. Otherwise, it is the end of Lebanon indeed - Sad - Soooo Sad

[danny]

Another dumbest attempt by the Syrian stooge to elevate his "image" from a street thug to a "mediator politician"...These daily additions of new "conditions" is exasperating to say the least! Rifai has it right; put their asses in jail!
Charles Rizk almost begged the UN to start with the IT as he fears that the four accused Generals might be "sprung" by our national divine heroes of the Islamic resistance...
As for the prior post re: Welsch predicting a "hot summer"...It has been denied and refuted by the US embassy that Welsch ever uttered those words. Another Lebanese "news" which of course turns out to be a lie!!

[Bad Vilbel]

I really wish they WOULD get Makari to call a session and all the M14 and any "independent" MPs go down and elect a president. I know they're "waiting" for the IT, but fuck that. Just apply the constitution already. Bunch of idiots.

[Andre]

Berri's true color are finally showing, if it wasn't already so obvious that he is doing anything and everything to stall and confuse matters in order to give more time to his masters across the border. According to the lebanese constitution, parliament can only meet as an electoral body only, when the presidency is vacant. it can't legislate nor can it adopt or discuss laws during that time. How do you like having a speaker that violates the rules over and over again of the same body that he is supposedly elected to protect and enforce without being held accountable? Only in Lebanon....

[Bad Vilbel]

What do you mean "Berri's true colors are finally showing" ????

His true colors have been showing for well over 2 decades. That statement of yours makes no sense. If it really took someone this long to see Berri's true colors, then that person is a fool.

[JoseyWales]

"Berri's true colors are finally showing"

Bwaahahahhhahhahhh!

That's the sad truth of Lebanon, people at L'Orient and the Daily Idiot (as well as probably Sfeir) are still waiting Berri and other politicians to listen to their conscience (????) and do the right thing.

Read the Daily Idiot's editorial today: they want our pols, who learned NOTHING from our own 30 YEARS experience, to learn from what's going on in Iraq and listen to their conscience...

Ok, enough jokes for today.

[JoseyWales]

You can add Gus Tueni and the Nahar staff to those waiting for Isteeez Nabih to turn into Winston Churchill anytime now.

PS They all think Saniora is already there.

[naja]

Hello everyone, hello AK. long time.
AK, there was a surreal sense of inevitability about Berri somehow conjuring up a parliamentary session - if we can call it that. In fact, even though it caught me by surprise (and, considering the gargantuan traffic mess caused by the comical security measures, "caught" is particularly appropriate), I had a full hour's worth of adding to the greenhouse effect to curse myself in the gridlock for forgetting that Berri is unbelievably predictable for anyone who bothers to follow his meanderings. Lets sum things up - with a dash of hindsight: Berri returns from Damascus, where schizophrenia now reigns supreme. Meanwhile back home, the chorus of "open parliament's doors" has become part of most churches' choir songbook, including those in Metn and, with tragic consequences, Zahle. In parallel, the opposition is fragmenting like an israeli cluster bomb. Worse for him, M14 are emboldened by Murr's U-turn and are considering a simple majority vote. What do you do, Nabih? Simple: call a session, knowing damn well that a chunk of loyalists are in Zahle for the assassinated phalangists' funeral and, hey pronto, call it off and make sure they don't come back with full numbers next time, by simply not setting a date. Instead, turn the tables around by adding a (totally unlawful) condition: dialogue THEN election. (This would represent, as one MP rightly noted, a monumental precedent).

As hope of getting to the office became as likely as Michel Suleiman hosting a celebration party with Aoun as guest of honour, I headed back home, furious, along with thousands of frustrated motorists, all too depressed to even engage in the traditional cacophony of horns. On a day when the spring weather was absolutely spectacular, it's not the fact that we failed to elect a president that bothered me. Heck, we've been there, oh some 18 times already. No. It's just the fact that, had I thought a little harder about the Speaker's predictable kneejerk, I would have gone instead to the Sporting Club for a bit of pre-summer tanning, and would have then made it to the office as soon as the army and ISF had started their equally inevitable - and probably equally depressed - retreat to their barracks.

Love from Beirut.

[Jeha]

Naja,

I love the "somehow conjuring up"; he conjured up a session and traffic. I was lucky yesterday; work unexpectedly took me away from Beirut most of the day, till I realized that I had inadvertently escaped the clogged streets.

In this mess of ours, the laws and constitution have been so broken as to be rendered utterly meaningless now. I fear that, after they mess things up for us (again), they will ended up "electing" Suleiman like they did Hrawi, on the back of some jeep... Only the Jeep may change.

[Roch]

On the back of a humvee?

I wonder what could happen if M14 go for a 50+1 election?
War? or maybe this time the majority of the people would just back up this election and life for them goes on as nothing happened.

Yes maybe amjority should take this risk and go for the vote... After all, why avoid a war now and wait until most M8 are armed to the teeth!

[danny]

Roch,

"....wait until most M8 are armed to the teeth!"?????? Are you in this universe?????
WJ lays a precondition to Berri's conditions....HA weapons have to be one of main topics of any dialogue!!!I think these guys are all buying and bidding their TIME; waiting, wating, waiting...Nothing intelligent comes out of their mouths!!

[Dixon]

Democracy in Lebanon? No one in that tiny piece of land understands the meaning.

[Abilama]

UNIFIL
Pathetic United Nations Story of the Day

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 11:29:01 am PDT

Hizballah is rebuilding and rearming in Lebanon at a frightening rate, and United Nations “peacekeepers” just run away when they stumble across the terrorists smuggling weapons: UNIFIL finds Hezbollah arms; gunmen scatter peacekeepers.

To make it worse, the UN apparently buried the story, giving it only a brief mention in a larger report.

Armed Hezbollah militants warded off members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) last month when the peacekeepers discovered a truck carrying weapons and ammunition belonging to the Lebanon-based guerilla group.
Read it All!

[Abilama]

An 'insult' to the 'Palestinian' struggle

Ramallah is probably the most secular city in the 'Palestinian Authority.' The city has an annual Contemporary Dance Festival, which is scheduled to take place this week for the third time. The festival features a varied lineup of modern and traditional performances from local and international dance troupes.

The festival is organized by the Sareyyet Ramallah - First Ramallah Group - a local NGO whose goal is to "broaden the cultural landscape by introducing Palestinians to new and progressive forms of contemporary artistic expression through dance."

It seems that Hamas, which has other ideas about 'culture,' is upset that the festival is taking place. They want it canceled.
Hamas is opposed to the event mainly because it would bring men and women together. The Islamic movement also maintains that it is "inappropriate" to hold such an event while Palestinians were still fighting against Israel.

Saleh al-Raqab, Deputy Minister of Waqf Affairs in the Hamas government, said the festival "distorted" the Palestinian "struggle" and harms the image of the Palestinians.

"Those who are dancing on the pain and wounds of the Palestinian people can't be part of our people," he said. "How can they be dancing while our people in the Gaza Strip are suffering under the siege?"

Raqab claimed that the organizers were spending millions of dollars to bring international dance troupes. "They are wasting the money of our people on trivial matters," he said. "This event has nothing to do with our people's culture and history."

He urged the Palestinians to boycott the "disgraceful" dance festival and distance themselves from the organizers. "This event is an insult to all Muslims," he added. "Is this the way to liberate Palestine?"

[Abilama]

Drug traffickers, pimps with beards- what else?

Drugs play key role in Hezbollah's war with Israel
Monday, 21 April, 2008 @ 4:24 PM

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/04/drugs_play_key.php

By Alfred Hackensberger

Bekaa Valley, Lebanon - For years, Hizbollah has been trading Lebanese-produced heroin and cocaine .....

[Abilama]

HA
Government official accuses Hezbollah of sheltering Zahle murderer
Wednesday, 23 April, 2008 @ 3:33 PM
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/04/government_offi.php

March 14 official Michel Mouawad on Wednesday accused Hizbullah of sheltering Zahle criminal Joseph Zouki in south Lebanon in coordination with MP Elias Skaff.

[Tantalus]

Isn't is so obvious? Isn't that asshole Berri called the "speaker"? He therefore needs to "speak".

The motherfucker obviously only needs someone to listen to him.

Somebody give that asshole an ear before he drowns the country in his tears!

[ghassan karam]

Would someone care to explain to me why is it that it is acceptable to break the law while pretending to be strengthening it. And no I am not refering to Berri but to the incessant call to elect Suleiman. Such an election would be unconstitutional and illegal.No institution , and definitely no country, should ever make the claim that its future is dependent on only one person. If Suleiman is to be elected then that is a clear sign of bankruptcy of the ruling majority. Actually I would argue that electing/appointing General Suleiman is just as egregious of an offense as accepting the permanently closed doors of the Chamber of Deputies without raising a raucous. The deputies that agree to vote for General Suleiman should be impeached along side Mr. Berri and the whole bunch should be denied the privilege of ever running for an elective office again. It is time that we stand up for what is right and stop all this business of half measures. I have no sympathy or understanding for the constant calls to elect General Suleiman and I have no respect for Mr. Suleiman who is acquiescing to the idea of breaing the law in order to become its protector.

[Bad Vilbel]

Ghassan,

No offense. I agree with everything you're saying. But we're WAY past all that already. NONE of this crap is legal or constitutional, and if it were up to me, every single one of these bozos would not only be impeached, but also lined up in front of a firing squad for high treason.
I think those of us (like you and me) who are still sitting here expecting some kind of common sense to prevail amongst the Lebanese, or for them to even begin to grasp the concepts of law/constitution is beyond hope.

That is why I have recently moved passed critiquing the Berris of this world. I am not simply laying the blame on the Lebanese people as a whole.

As you have often said: our leadership is a reflection of the people.

[danny]

GK,

You are right! It is totally wrong and unconstitutional to elect the General without necessary ammendments. However, in this beautiful but disgustingly corrupt country we love, Lebanon; initiatives and decisions are made not to advance a cause but to check mate the other. In my humble opinion, March 14 took the decision in backing MS in an effort to lift the "veil" off Berri's Baalback "initiative"; whereas he promised to lift the downtown occupation if they agreed upon on a president!!!
I do not think, not for a moment that March 14 had or has any intention of electing MS!!They are bidding time for the IT. They figure the situation cannot be more out of control than now...

[Bad Vilbel]

Danny,

No offense to you either, but "waiting for the IT" is no excuse to shirk the constitutional duty to elect a president either. Besides, I'm sick and tired of hearing about "waiting for the IT". Once again, a case of the Lebanese putting their faith in external circumstances rather than taking matters into their own hands. The IT is not some kind of silver bullet that will fix everything that ails Lebanon.

Until that mentality changes, we're still doomed, IT or not.

[danny]

BV

None taken. I'm in agreement with you. However, it seems that the status is as I said. I am one of those who still advocate 50+1...as it is legal and constitutional.

[Jeha]

I fear we're beyond the rule of law or logic in Lebanon. The "Majority", had they really wanted to, could have elected just anyone by now, and they still can. Accepting Suleiman that late in the game was a sure way of effectively preventing any election.

I am not accusing anyone of conspiracy, but I note that the "Majority" had the funeral on the day when Berri had scheduled an "election".

[naja]

Oh GK, Jeha, the absurdity of it all: here is M14 clamouring for the law via the International Tribunal, whilst merrily ignoring it when it comes to Suleiman's "election" (!). I wouldn't even want to begin to talk about M8's hilarious take on legal matters, but I fully agree with Ghassan. The bottom line is: there are no half-measures before the law. Either you adhere to the entire legal system, or by even breaching a single tenet of it, you are in the same league as the ones who dismiss it all. Sadly, in Lebanon right now, I think the overwhelming majority of people couldn't give a toss about such principled thinking. "Compromise away, but for cryin' out loud get us out of this mess, even if it's for the short term" is what's on most people's minds. I am personally realistic enough to know that politics in Lebanon - and, frankly, pretty much in the majority of nations - is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. That doesn't make either of them angels, of course, but it does keep the wheels turning.

[JoseyWales]

"the lesser of two evils"

Agreed Naja, however in Leb we somehow always end up with the greater of two evils (precisely cuz we have ZERO principles).

[VOR]

May I remind everyone that Suleiman was supposed to be the majority's consensus candidate? This is a man who was supposedly the right candidate to bring about the crisis to an end? The opposition never liked the idea and made it clear that it would not back that decision, meanwhile, we've gone through arab and international mediations in an effort to elect this guy and M14 has put all of its eggs in that basket to no avail. The truth is, M14's options are running out, and all the tough talk is simply not getting anywhere. I think everyone is at a point trying to regain the upper hand in this crisis, hoping for concessions from the other side while keeping the option of dialogue open. As we all know, this crisis will not end until all the regional actors get together and agree on what to do about Lebanon, in the meantime all of this exercise by Berri and others is futile.

[danny]

'The truth is, M14's options are running out, and all the tough talk is simply not getting anywhere."

Who'se doing the tough talk? Who is armed to the teeth? Who's killing who?

[VOR]

danny, if you recall Jumblatt and Geagea were talking tough not too long ago. It didn't lead to anything.
And now good ol' Waleed is now back to his softening stance. Let's face it, it's all a charade designed to hide the fact that M14 lost the opportunity to make decisions a long time ago and has surrendered to regional forces as much as M8 has!

[Bad Vilbel]

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Friday said the March 14 majority alliance "declared war on Syria when it left Lebanon. Had they been brave they would have confronted Syria on Lebanese terrain." (Source Naharnet)

Sort of like how you were brave and confronted Syria from Paris, right, General?

(Why doesn't anyone call these people on this kind of shit?)

"Aoun said Premier Fouad Saniora's Government "rejects calls to look for those missing in their land (buried in mass graves), that is why we cannot hold Syria responsible first" for the Lebanese missing in its jails. (Source naharnet)

Flawless logic there, as usual. I suppose Aoun also suggest Hizbullah shouldn't hold Israel responsible for holding Lebanese prisoners (a longstanding issue for Hizb, if I recall) either??? Maybe we can hold Saniora responsible for Samir Kuntar too, while we're at it.

I wonder if Saniora is also responsible for the crackdown in Tibet and the hunger in Zimbabwe.

[Bad Vilbel]

Sorry to "spam" this thread, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm trying to post more on my blog instead of hijacking your threads with my various rants.

http://thebadvilbel.blogspot.com

(also, AK, feel free to link away. Note it's not badvilbel.blogspot.com like it used to be back in the day)

[danny]

Aoun is a moron.
Here's a tidbit from Naharnet (if it were to be believed) clarifying the Israeli stance and its understanding of Bashar...We all knew that already!
http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&0765141228C75B05C22574360059E9AA

[Bad Vilbel]

Yeah. I made a comment about that whole thing yesterday.
The Israelis and Americans are savvy to Bashar. He has no interest in the Golan. his REAL price for "peace" is Lebanon + Dropping the Tribunal.
And that's why he now says he won't look at talking peace with Israel until the new US president is in the White House. Because the current administration has already named its price (the Golan, in return for dropping Hamas, Hizb, and Lebanon) and Bashar's just not willing to do that.

He's hoping he can convince a different administration to make a different kind of offer.

Let's hope neither Obama nor Clinton are stupid enough to give him that.