1- “An-Nahar” headline: The clash of presidential stakes into a broader escalation
On the eve of the country’s return to a long holiday dictated by the advent of Eid al-Fitr, the domestic political scene seemed mired in more confusion, confusion, and ambiguity, whether related to the prospects of the presidential crisis, or the repercussions of the life, living, and social conditions that were not exacerbated or mitigated by salary increases in the public sector. Or raising the minimum wage in the private sector approved by the last session of the Council of Ministers.
It is not a matter of calling. It is an issue of freedoms and a principle related to the essential work and role of the lawyer. More dangerously, summoning the executive director of the “Legal Agenda” lawyer Nizar Saghieh today, with the possibility of removing him from the union’s list, is not measured by an individual case or by a matter separate from a general context for which preparations began some time ago, and today he is degraded to the Bar Association and the Palace of Justice.
Recently, a number of journalists and activists were summoned to be heard, and the Publications Law and its provisions were bypassed, and the counter-response was clear: “Your coffee is not a drink.”
Confirmation is security and local. The circulating news that has been buzzing for hours, about “a scandal involving displaced Syrians in the Metn: stray dogs were slaughtered and a kilo sold for 50,000,” is untrue, fabricated. The town of Al-Mayassa in the northern Matn district “did not witness anything of what the news claims,” as confirmed by its mayor to “An-Nahar,” and “there is also nothing in Deir Shamra that confirms the news,” according to its mayor. Likewise, “there are no detainees in the case as stated in the news,” confirmed by an informed security source to “An-Nahar”.
Politicians did not see the participation of the Aounist movement in the Parliament session to extend the mandate of the municipal and elective councils except as a first step towards the new positioning that the head of the movement, Gebran Bassil, is likely to prepare for, against the backdrop of the changes that could or will occur in the file of the presidential elections, which may force him to turn against His position on opposing the arrival of the head of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Franjieh, to the first presidency and the start of preparing for a deal that he would benefit from by agreeing to complete the quorum for electing the latter if he sees that the indicators are pushing in this direction.
The decision to extend the municipal councils for about a year, extending to May 2024, was issued after the stakeholders agreed on it, and they prepared a ridiculous output for it, which was embraced by the House of Representatives, which distributed the roles to ensure that the elections are postponed. However, despite the many and varied objections and aims, the reality of the matter differs from what is declared, as the “crushing” of the merit achieves a collective benefit for most of the parties in Lebanon.
Jihad Al-Zein wrote: The duality of American propaganda in the region: the various pressures on Israel and Iran
The relationship of American foreign policy with authoritarian regimes has a long history after World War II. One of the largest historical discussions in foreign policy inside and outside America was the discussion of focused American support for military regimes in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia in the face of the priority of confrontation with the Soviet Union during the Cold War in the fifties and sixties of the last century, which reached its climax during the Nixon era – Kissinger and its model The famous coup against President Salvador Allende in Chile in the first half of the seventies of the same century.
In the year 1989, the day after the end of the mandate of the former President of the Republic, Amin Gemayel, the country was faced with two only options imposed by the American-Syrian understanding on the presidential election in Lebanon: “Mikhail al-Daher or Chaos”, a famous equation that continued to resonate more than three decades after its launch. At every station, the election of a new President of the Republic, since this merit has not taken a safe path since the end of the civil war until today.
It is not true, as the “Rejection” axis and its accomplices promote from outside the “Shiite duo” environment, that the matter has been decided and the path of the “Hezbollah” candidate to Baabda Palace has been opened. This is an effort to exaggerate in order to divert attention from the main weakness of the nomination. Donating to convey a supposed Saudi position in favor of Franjieh does not build on it, and does not negate the fact that Franjieh’s problem is that he is the candidate of “Hezbollah” and that the Saudi-Iranian agreement does not include the haste of the Arab axis to hand over all of Lebanon to Tehran with the blessing of the Arabs.
