The heat is on in Lebanon

Sigh. Here is the thing: what you probably hear in the US is all about Prime Minister Hariri vs. Hezbollah and about justice being done in finding the perpetrators of the assassination of Hariri's sainted father. Well it just isn't that simple. Hariri is an old boy billionaire (with all his money safely away in Saudi Arabia) who enjoys endless US (and usually French) backing. The other side, which is now the majority, does include Hezbollah but has a huge Christian bloc who are tired of the old boy ineffective government.

Last week, the Druze swithced sides to join the opposition, tipping the balance so that "the opposition" is now the majority. In a democractic government, the majority should be allowed to vote on its leader, the Prime Minister, right? Isn't that the democracy the US stands for?

But as of today we have the first burning tire roadblocks of major highways and a massive strike--all by Hariri supporters who don't like the moderate candidate who has been brought forward by the opposition to replace Hariri as prime minister. He has previously served as Prime Minister and has pledged fairness and openess, and is even approved of by France. But here's the rhetoric from the US:"US warns of leading Hezbollah role in new government".

The root of this is the Tribunal looking at the assassination. The Tribunal may or may not be flawed, but as the Druze leader said several months ago,with so much at stake (i.e. peace), is it worth it to pursue??

Many people we know--smart, well educated, worldy, and mostly Christian--voted for the opposition. They don't like Hezbollah, but they don't like Hariri either.

Will cooler heads prevail? Well, you would have hoped the sitting govenrment would not act rashly, but they are the ones lighting tires on fire. Fortunately the Lebanese Army, amazingly neutral and composed of all sectors of the population, is going around breaking up the roadblocks and putting out the fires.