Right Wing Nut House

While thousands demonstrate in the streets of Beirut for Syria to withdraw its forces, action behind the scenes reveal a political crisis that pits the Lebanese opposition forces, united for the first time in decades, against a pro-Syrian President and his key ministers.

This from the Lebanon Daily Star:

BEIRUT: Lebanon sank deeper into political paralysis Friday with President Emile Lahoud giving no indication that he was willing to set up consultation appointments for the formation of a new government before hearing the Syrian president’s expected announcement regarding the withdrawal of his troops. The opposition’s hardened position had muted Lahoud, forcing him to follow the rhythm of the international community.

However, in the light of increasing domestic and international pressure for Syria to quit Lebanon, the opposition expects Lahoud to make concessions if he wants to avoid an imminent political stalemate.

However, a stalemate seems imminent nevertheless.

The concessions are doozies.

(Walid) Jumblatt reiterated that the opposition is seeking a probe to find former Premier rafik Hariri’s killers, the sacking of the heads of security agencies and the announcement of a Syrian pullout before accepting the formation of any new government.

Jumblatt, the grizzled old Druze warlord, knows that when you have an advantage over your opponent, you go for the jugular. In this case, the opposition will refuse to cooperate in the formation of a new goverment until Lebanese sovereignty is restored.

Why sack the head of the security services? This from (bless ‘em) Al Jazeera on pro-Syrian demonstrations orchestrated by the terrorist group Hizbollah:

Others who came out in support of Syria was the outgoing Environment Minister Wiam Wahhab who warned in remarks published Sunday that “the streets are not for the opposition.”

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Assem Kanso, head of the Lebanese branch of the Baath party ruling in Syria, led a demonstration to the Syrian intelligence headquarters in Beirut.

“We will not allow those traitors to be at the forefront of the scene, we will cut their heads whether they like it or not. We will not allow the withdrawal of the Syrian army unless it is done with dignity,” he said

If your Labor Minister and Environment Minister are both saying that the opposition should stay off the streets or heads will roll, what do you think the heads of the police and military are thinking? Jumblatt knows that in order to win, he’s going to need the army and police to, at the very least, be neutral towards the “people power” that has already transformed the political situation and caused enormous pressure to be placed on Baby Assad to pull his troops out.

Meanwhile, back in Damascus, Assad may have bought himself some time with his “partial pullout” from Lebanon but at what cost to his hold on the regime? Here’s an interesting blurb from Britain’s “The Independent:”

“Syria suffers from a serious PR dilemma,” said Ayman Abdul Nour, a former adviser to the Syrian President. “There is no co-ordination. There is no serious committee established to manage the current crisis. Each minister, if they do speak, does so only out of their own initiative and about their own opinion. There has been no meeting to co-ordinate the government’s position. They are just playing for time.”

This doesn’t sound like a Saddam style iron grip on government and it certainly doesn’t bode well for the relatively inexperienced Syrian President.

Cabinet Ministers with independent thoughts and no fear of expressing them may one day come up with the thought that it may be time for a change at the top. This usually works to the detriment of the fellow who occupies that position.

Cross-Posted at Blogger News Network