Presidency Negotiations Moving Forward

It seems the opposition is beginning to accept the idea of a neutral president who is closer to March 14

I read today’s Alhayat report on Lebanon and came out slightly more optimistic that perhaps we can have a new President soon. Maybe those bishops know what they’re doing after all. 

It seems Mr. Sleiman Frangieh, one of Syria’s closest allies, has abandoned the “Aoun or nobody” ship. After meeting with the Patriarch, he said that he wants someone who’s neither from March 14 nor from March 8, and before anyone thinks he was referring to Mr. Aoun, he said: “I’m saying this in front of the General [Aoun]”.

Also, from reading what Mr. Berri’s “sources” had to tell Alhayat, I sense realistic expectations from the opposition. It seems Mr. Berri will settle for someone who is “neutral”, close to the majority but not hostile to the opposition. Could he mean Mr. Harb or Mr. Nassib Lahoud?

Knowing you guys, I’m sure that by now you’re all rigorously searching for the catch, and you might be right. Perhaps Mr. Berri is just buying some time. Maybe he’s posturing to paint March 14 with the intransigence brush if things go wrong. Hell he could be doing this just to lower March 14’s guards in preparation for “something big”. Also, what if all these olive branches are designed to discredit Mr. Walid Jumblat when he speaks of imminent Iranian mayhem in Washington?

But then again, maybe not. Maybe the Syrians and the Iranians do want a real break to catch their breath after all this international squeezing. Remember, it was Berri who first offered to concede, and it is Hamas in Gaza who is calling for talks with a dismissive Abu Mazen. 

This is why, just for the sake and fun of it, I suggest we all get wild and be cautiously optimistic, if only for the time being.