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

Related articles :

• Syria still meddling in Lebanon after pullout-US
• 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.