The French tourist said: "Your country is magnificent. Your sea is lush and your mountains are tame. Your cuisine is delicious and diverse. The services are well advanced. You are welcoming and hospitable. And Baalbek is just charming". I smiled and thanked him. He continued: "I was pleased to see people from different religions and confessions living in one country, under democracy and the rule of law. This represents an opportunity for interaction among various affiliations, ideas and cultures. It is also striking that the Lebanese experience had preceded the Arab Spring, and was perhaps a source of inspiration for it". Here I gulped to prevent myself from responding. If I did, I would have certainly spoiled the visitor's fun. For the coexistence he speaks of is not at its best these days, while interaction has cleared the scene to make room for discord. Furthermore, Lebanon has been assassinated or suffered attempted assassinations many times over, because it was charged of being an agent of the principles of democracy, the rotation of power, and openness, and because its nature and composition has resisted the temptation of falling into the hands of a single party and a single ruler. The French visitor said that he feels sad because his holiday is nearing its end, and because he will have to soon return to live under a man named Nicolas Sarkozy. The French visitor described the president as fickle, rash, and as being a gambler. He said that France needed a president with a vision, in a world where change is characterized by shifting alliances, and a world that is frequently threatened by profound financial and economic crises. He expressed his annoyance because France is declining at a time when others are taking steady strides in scientific advancement and technology. He attacked the political elite and stressed that his country needed what was better, classier and cleaner. He said that France no longer makes its citizens feel that it is a pioneering and leading country, and a safe haven in the battles of the future. An overwhelming feeling of anger and scorn came over me. I almost reproached the man. How dare you say such things to a Lebanese audience? You shall return to a place that enjoys having a state, institutions, a law, a judiciary, an army and a police force. And a public opinion that holds its rulers accountable and monitors them, and ballot boxes that punish abusers or those who are negligent. You do not have a problem of bequeathing office to sons or sons-in-law. You do not need a national consensus, and distribution of spoils among the sects and tribes just to pave a road. No French person can vanish in mysterious circumstances. Your country is not a range for shootings and assassinations. Nor do you have this crowd of opportunists and crooks who have eyes shaped like hooks and nails, or a band of political analysts who display great creativity in stoking the fires of sectarian strife in the viewers' hearts and minds. The French visitor is upset because his country is not adequately prepared for the economic and technological battles of the future. But what can the Lebanese say about their country then? The country is heading towards two major and momentous events, and it seems that its politicians are bent on having the country address them while being exposed and fragmented. For four decades, Lebanon has lived on the premise that Syria lives under a sustained and rigorous stability. During that period, Syria participated in shaping the Lebanese scene, and producing politicians for Lebanon. Many politicians have thus become accustomed to living under Syria's patronage, while others became accustomed to living despite it, regardless of the risk this entails. Today, Syria is coming under a far reaching and violent storm, whose results affect Lebanon as well, owing to the interdependence between the two countries. One may say that the way some Lebanese dealt with the storm in Syria, irrespective of their posts and positions, was not adequately prudent. It is strange here that the Lebanese politicians do not yet feel that there is a need for a national unity government that protects their country from the possibility of the conflict in Syria spreading beyond its borders. Another development that is no less momentous involves the indictments issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the case of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination. In truth, this is more than a storm. It is an earthquake, and it is not possible to shield against it except through a national unity government. This storm cannot be otherwise weathered by invoking the logic of intimidation and deception. I envied the French tourist for his worries, and his velvety problems. The poor Lebanese are stuck between the rock of the Syrian developments and the hard place of the indictments. Their state is disjointed and their government thrives on ambiguity and obfuscation, and shall continue to be so until the paths of its constituents have parted. Poor Lebanon, for it is an ill country juggling two bombs. And I do not fear for its fingers as much as I fear for its neck and essence. In Lebanon, as in the region, there is a smell of implicit or explicit [plans to partition it into smaller] regions. Tomorrow, the French visitor will leave back to his country, and the Lebanese will remain buried under the rubble of their state, juggling two bombs.
