For those who do not know it, President Aoun (along with his party and largest parliamentary bloc) has aligned himself with the Hizbullah since 2005 upon his return from exile in France.
Hizbullah is the country’s only remaining heavily armed militia post ciivl-war (of course with its classical excuse of “resistance” to Israel. The latter occupied Lebanon for 15 years, until 2000.
Hizbullah is the main ally of Iran and of Mr. Syria’s Bachar el-Assad’s, along with Russia during the Syrian war (if Bambi is not mistaken).
As a reminder, Syria, which occupied Lebanon for 30 years, withdrew its troops in 2005 (in the middle of a so-called Cedar Revolution. The latter is a chain of demonstrations, triggered by the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri. Of course, this is what happened on the ground. Of course, capitals of the key players of the world may have also helped the cause by pushing for this move given the seriousness of the crime).
Below, you can see two tweets by Lebanon’s President, one following the other. The first was published prior to the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and the second immediately following its final verdict. Thanks to journalist Roula Douglas for her thoughtful tweet, combining the two original presidential tweets by l’Orient Le Jour (a quick translation will follow).
In the first tweet, Lebanon’s President is saying: “After a long period of time, “justice is no longer just”. HOWEVER, immediately following the (rather useless) verdict, he changed his mind, writing: “Justice has been rendered to everyone’s desire to shed light on this crime“.
Well, the President’s tweets show us an absurd contradiction. Isn’t it?
Anyhow, FYI, here are the two original tweets again:
Bambi does not know if she should bitterly laugh or just smile to such contradictions in life. She is saying so whilst feeling BOTH sad and angry about impunity in her birth country.
Indeed, her heart goes to ALL the innocent victims of ALL the crimes, from the large explosion that killed PM Rafik Hariri and many innocent people to the many other assassinations, which followed it.
Look at this handsome youth! Why did he have to die? Why do his parents and loved ones have to suffer? For whom? For what? For which ideology or just stupid negligence? Or both?
As you know, the latest “crime” in Beirut was its surrealistic seaport explosions that killed over 180+ people, including Elias (it also injured 6000+, destroyed the city, and made over 300,000 homeless). Whether accidental or not, Bambi is convinced that the blasts (i.e., the circumstances leading to them…) MUST be internationally investigated. Of course, Lebanon’s President is against the latter (like his “chum”, Mr. Nasrallah).
This being said, after today’s verdict of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, one may wonder to what extent are UN-backed international tribunals truly able to help save Lebanon from its two life-threatening diseases: criminality and corruption? Of course, Lebanon has also a third acute crisis, namely the coronavirus, like the rest of the world. However, despite the high danger of the covid-19 pandemic, especially now it seems, the latter is perhaps the mildest of Lebanon’s three comorbid tragedies.
Indeed, thankfully, even a long pandemic will eventually diminish and may end one of these days. That’s for the dangerous coronavirus… When will the deadly bacteria of impunity stop in Lebanon? Please tell Bambi when!
