FPM hinges pact with opposition to agreement on election lists

Aoun demands overhaul of political and economic institutions as price for unity

By Majdoline Hatoum , Daily Star , May 21, 2005

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  Lawyer calls to boycott polls to spur Geagea’s release

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s increasingly confusing electoral scene took another dramatic turn with the news that Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Party will break away from its opposition allies unless they reach an agreement on sharing parliamentary lists in the next 24 hours.

It is understood the FPM is demanding the opposition declare it will overhaul Lebanon’s political and economic institutions after the elections as its price for fighting the election as a united front.

FPM politburo member Hikmat Deeb said: “We are waiting for them to decide on issues we have labeled important for us, such as preparing an agenda for political reform to be able to hold an alliance, and that should happen within the next 24 hours.”

“If that doesn’t happen we will announce our electoral lists in the next 48 hours,” he added.

Lebanon’s Ex-PM Won’t Run in Elections

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian former prime minister said Friday he will not run or vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections to protest the country’s election law and what he called “corruption along all levels.”

Former Prime Minister Omar Karami said said he was also protesting what he sees as the “appointment” rather than the election of the legislature’s new 128 members, apparently referring to to the way large factions and old foes were forging election alliances that could deny fair competition among candidates.

Pro-Syrian politicians are facing an uphill battle against powerful anti-Syrian factions that have recently joined together to try to end the pro-Syrian sway over the legislature.

COMMENTARY

Michael Hudson Speaks at AUB

Source : Lebanese Political Journal

Want to know something new about the Middle East?
Don’t ask Michael Hudson.

Related article : U.S. academic believes Syria still influential in Lebanon

Over the course of an hour and a half address to graduate students at the American University of Beirut, Hudson repeated many claims that bloggers are overly familiar with.

Hudson met Bashar Assad during his Damascus visit, and it seems Bashar has the Clinton effect: you just want to believe him. However, Hudson was not totally taken in by Bashar’s gleaming eyes and smile. He might believe an old guard exists, but when Bashar told Hudson that he was not getting enough credit for releasing political prisoners, Hudson said he mentioned the names of some of the people still incarcerated.

Hudson noted that through the 70s scholars examined the Middle East through Modernization Theory, mukhabarat states, and militarization. They did not examine civil society, Islamic fundamentalism, or incipient impetus for political reform. The dynamic changed in the early 80s, and he mentioned that he had written about the possibility of democratization in 1986.

Strangely, Hudson thinks reform can occur within totalitarian Middle East dictatorships because the children of the dictators were educated abroad and “have picked up the virus of liberalism.” He continually mentioned Bashar’s British education, but also noted the myriad places in which this did not happen. The history of Westernized children sparking reform his short (I can only think of the Libya and Bahrain).

He claims he was initially far too excited by democratic opportunities in Algeria, Yemen, and elsewhere and has now tempered his thinking.
Hudson mentioned that he might be naive, but that he thinks reform is going to continue happening in the Middle East citing Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. However, he took issue with the Bush Administration’s claim that the Iraq War started all of this.

Hudson made mention of the Bush campaign in Iraq saying that democracy in Iraq is not such a bad idea, if only it could be implemented.
“The Kiss of Death” phenomenon was repeated, which is Hudson’s belief that American support of politicians and local ideas means indigenous abhorrence of those very same things.
Hudson opened for questions and was immediately challenged.

Pull out your spies from Lebanon, U.S. tells Syria

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  Syria still meddling in Lebanon after pullout-US
  
  
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  Syria will not influence Lebanon poll-PM Mikati

DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) – The United States said on Friday Syria must pull out all its intelligence agents from Lebanon, and accused Iran of funnelling “millions of dollars per month” to Hizbollah guerrillas.

“Pulling out military forces is not enough. You have to pull out all your intelligence agents,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick told reporters during a World Economic Forum regional meeting in Jordan.

Under huge world and Lebanese pressure following the February killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, Syria last month pulled its troops from Lebanon, which it entered in the early days of the 1975-1990 civil war.

But Scott Carpenter, deputy assistant secretary of state, said Syria was still meddling in Lebanon despite the pullout.

“We still remain deeply concerned about the level of interference and continued manipulation (by Syria) on the part of the security and intelligence services within Lebanon,” Carpenter said.

“We will continue, as the international community, to put pressure to make sure those connections are also withdrawn or suspended,” he said.

Syria still meddling in Lebanon after pullout-US

Source: Reuters
By Ibon Villelabeitia

DEAD SEA, Jordan, May 20 (Reuters) – The United States said on Friday Syria was still meddling in Lebanon despite pulling out its troops last month, and accused Iran of funnelling “millions of dollars per month” to Hizbollah guerrillas.

“We still remain deeply concerned about the level of interference and continued manipulation (by Syria) on the part of the security and intelligence services within Lebanon,” said Scott Carpenter, deputy assistant secretary of state.

“We will continue, as the international community, to put pressure to make sure those connections are also withdrawn or suspended,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter, speaking during a World Economic Forum regional meeting in Jordan, made his remarks as Lebanon prepares to hold parliamentary elections starting on May 29, the first in 33 years without Syrian troops present in the country.

Aoun: Lebanon political class corrupt

By ZEINA KARAM

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Lebanese general who fought the Syrian army in the 1980s sharply criticized the anti-Syrian opposition Thursday and warned that upcoming elections could return to Parliament the same politicians that long followed the lead of Damascus.

Gen. Michel Aoun came back to Lebanon nearly two weeks ago after 14 years in exile in the wake of Syria’s military withdrawal, hailed by his supporters and vowing to use his stature to help build a broad opposition alliance. But opposition figures have been putting together their own election deals that leave him out in the cold.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Aoun called the entire political class corrupt, accusing opposition politicians of betraying their popular base and of coming only recently to their anti-Syrian stances.

“This is an old habit. They (politicians) are looking for their own interests … there is a big difference between the people’s wishes and the interest of the political class,” he said.

U.S. report praises Lebanon’s investment climate but slams bureaucracy

By Will Rasmussen

BEIRUT: A report by the U.S. Commerce Department praised Lebanon’s liberal economy and attractive investment climate but slammed the country’s excessive bureaucracy. The 2005 Country Commercial Guide for Lebanon listed red tape and corruption, arbitrary licensing decisions, complex customs procedures, an ineffectual judicial system, and lack of adequate protection for intellectual property as main impediments for attracting foreign investment.

“Some foreign companies have left the market or relocated their regional offices to neighboring countries, or refrained from investing in Lebanon at all, because of frustration resulting from these impediments,” the report read.

Yet the U.S. Commerce Department, which is charged with promoting economic growth, praised Lebanon’s “free market, highly dollarized economy, the absence of controls on the movement of capital and foreign exchange, a highly educated labor force, good quality of life and limited restrictions on investors.”

Lebanon’s potential for growth in the IT sector, according to the report, is strong.

A Human Rights Agenda for the Parliamentary Elections in Lebanon

Source : Amnesty International USA

Introduction
On the eve of the Lebanese parliamentary elections scheduled for 29 May to 19 June 2005, Amnesty International is seeking to promote debate over how human rights in Lebanon may be more effectively promoted and protected. Elections provide an opportunity for consolidating democracy and justice in a post-conflict situation or a situation characterised by insufficient attention to human rights protection. Amnesty International believes that human rights should be at the heart of the proposed agenda of each candidate, and of the future government.

Lebanese laws and the constitution are generally conducive to protecting human rights, and Lebanon prides itself on the role its representative played in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, 1948. There continues to be a lively community of human rights organisations and defenders in the country, Lebanon has a reputation for being a regional media and cultural centre, and there is a Parliamentary Human Rights Committee. For years Amnesty International has had a good, open and frank dialogue with the Lebanese authorities who have permitted the organisation to carry out numerous human rights-related activities in the country. Amnesty International has also established its regional office for the Middle East and North Africa in Beirut. The organisation hopes that further cooperation continues after the elections and with the formation of the new parliament and government.

However, there continue to be human rights concerns in Lebanon, and the forthcoming elections provide an important opportunity for Lebanese citizens to raise their human rights concerns with candidates.

For over a decade Amnesty International has conducted numerous research visits to Lebanon, interviewed victims of human rights violations and their relatives, observed trials of political prisoners and held talks with government officials, members of the judiciary, lawyers and prosecutors. Although there is a noticeable awareness about human rights issues at both official and non-official levels, Amnesty International has documented gross human rights violations since the end of the civil war in 1990, committed by agents of the state or non-state actors. The organisation has communicated its findings and concerns in confidential correspondence with the authorities or published them in public reports and through the media. However, the bulk of the organisation’s concerns and recommendations do not seem to have been properly addressed, or even taken seriously by the Lebanese authorities.

In 1997, and after a lapse of 14 years since the submission of its first report, Lebanon presented its second periodic report to the Human Rights Committee (HRC), the body of experts entrusted with monitoring implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Lebanon ratified in 1975. The HRC examined Lebanon’s report and urged the Lebanese government to undertake a number of reforms and measures to bring its laws and practices in conformity with its obligations under the ICCPR. As with the case with recommendations submitted by Amnesty International, none of the HRC concluding observations appear to have been heeded by the Lebanese authorities.

In this document, Amnesty International is highlighting several key human rights areas: the need for reform of the justice sector; ending discrimination against women and marginalised communities; declaring a moratorium on executions as a step towards the abolition of the death penalty; ending impunity for past