* The Limits Of Compromise

What’s in common between the Lebanese Gaza flotilla weirdness and the Lebanese vote in the UN over Iran’s Nuclear weapons?

In both cases, the Lebanese government had to actually make a decision on a topic where the Lebanese people are divided. As long as things remain under the table, our ‘compromise’ government can manage well and stay hush-hush about things. But as soon as they are put on the spot and have to make a choice, the Doha agreement that ended our latest political impasse began to show its limitations.

In both cases, there was intense pressure from two opposing sides for making completely different decisions, and Lebanon felt like a tug-of-war cable between Iran and Syria on one side and the rest of the world on the other. Something will have to give.

In the UN, we had the option of abstaining. But we find ourselves in a quandary with the flotilla. What started first as a me-too effort at emulating the popular turkish fleet is facing intense international and local pressure to backtrack.

But our compromise system that likes to put a united Lebanese face behind everything can’t handle backtracks. We tried sending the boats via Cyprus because it was illegal to go straight to Gaza, but we find Cyprus frowning at us. So now, in what is quickly becoming a farce, we are denying our relationship with the ships and even acting as if they don’t exist. Something doesn’t feel quite right with this situation

I don’t pretend I know the answer to this problem. On one hand, everyone in the region has an interest in stability and there’s a balance of Terror. But when the consensus ends, Lebanon’s political system will not be capable of handling the consequences.

Note: Posts with titles starting with an asterisk * are my opinion posts. I used this system to separate long posts from quick links and comments.


 
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