By General Monzer El Ayoubi
Translation: Dr. Pierre A. Sarkis
There is no need to assume, nor be surprised that Lebanese politicians are propelling the country towards total anarchy and chaos, and therefore, pushing it beyond collapse to extinction based on a decision, whose recourse is to bring the wretched population to destitution. Categorizing and describing the people after Lebanon’s first Centennial (Lebanon was founded in 1920) is an easy matter which goes back to several reasons and diverse experiments.
The least of these reasons and experiments is the indecency in perpetrating unsavory offenses, as well as, the lack of patriotism and the disloyalty of those holding passports or two nationalities (the Lebanese are allowed to hold two nationalities), and they are numerous and form the 19th confession (Lebanon comprises 18 different confessions). Added to all this, is the disloyalty of officials and politicians towards the people who were loyal and voted for them, although skeptical, either due to good faith or for personal interests. Out of the qualitative ordinary, the credit rating classification used in economics, finance and business can be adopted here, which in summary, is a recognition of competence carried by specialized agencies to determine the eligibility and merit of an entity, a person, a repayment of debt according to financial potential and trust, etc… meaning that most officials and politicians are exempt from the required eligibility “no confidence”, or the qualitative reliability, either to lead the country and people, or to run and administer the State’s institutions and its agencies.
As for the welfare of society and its undertakings, the limp pelted relief because of the absence of treatment, which led to the impairment of the social fabric, and the collapse of its trade unions and student cells, etc… which choked the arteries of its living and economic conditions at the center and peripheries. The more important complication which could not be overcome was the bleeding, causing the squandering of public assets, general funds, and the swindling of people’s life savings without one official blinking an eye.
An overview of this Lebanese ailing entity clearly shows that it is suffering from chronic afflictions, deeply rooted in the body, profoundly embedded in the mind and soul, with hardships and misfortunes the result of malpractice, failure and negligence, and thus, the pain increases because of the severity of the situation and the high fever of famine and poverty. The self-grinding seizures were shaped over several time intervals, at convergent interludes, with the most important treatment being a surgery at the Taif Center for curing incurable illnesses (in reference to the Taif Accord which ended the Lebanese War in 1990), which eradicated malignant confessional tumors, and unified, or balanced the scale of the jurisdictional by-products between the three categorized main confessional glands (Maronite, Sunni, Shiite), following a fierce civil war.
From another perspective, the presumed psychotherapy following the tumors-removal surgery was not beneficial, with the psychiatric illnesses worsening, as discerned in the cases of addiction to corruption, and the greed for robbing the resources of the Treasury. The ailments of the Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) were rampant among second and third grade officials, i.e. the money collectors, those entrusted with executing the desires of many of the first grade officials, who inflicted with schizophrenia, were disconnected from reality. In addition, the ruling class and the accompanying or merging oligarchy were reluctant in responding to their duties and responsibilities, thus, failing to reduce anxiety or tension for their people, and declining to adapt to life’s biggest shifts “an explosion (Beirut Port) which killed hundreds and injured thousands, destroying one third of the capital Beirut, the October 17 Revolution, etc…” The reactions, such as the outrage at their practices, was translated in the freedom squares, either through reflections or demonstrations, but was unfortunately brought down by the negative belligerent behavior of hired infiltrators, and the remnants of militias and other agents from local or external agencies, with Western or Eastern affiliations.
This fatal indifference, bearing the attributes of vulgar political stubbornness and intransigence for the stereotypical numbers “3 of 6 and a total of 18” (referring to the long-awaited formation of the government, based on 6 ministers for each major confession, for a total of 18 ministers), or for example, the loyalty of cabinet appointees and the attempts to thwart the financial forensic audit to retrieve the looted funds, with an added value relevant to the development of events, such as, assassinations and terrorist attacks calculated in situ, or those planned according to demand. Therefore, the most correct interpretation would be “the need for anarchy”.
On another level, the strangulation of this geographical organism weighing 10452 km2, or 4,036 sq mi (Lebanon’s size), without counting the size of its territorial waters, and the exclusive economic zone attached to it through regional conflicts, and a commitment to a premeditated, projected, and self-inflicted approach sketched by external priests to serve the internal altar, is caused at its threshold by a rarity in perceptual forces which approach strategic awareness with intellectual nihilism, in managing and unifying the nation’s interests. All this led to a calamitous, imposed isolation accepted by everybody neo-genetically, related to, and lately described in the Pine Palace as treason (the Pine Palace is where French President Emanuel Macron met with Lebanese politicians in Beirut).
Alternatively, the madness or destructive behavior escalated to an extent where the French savior (President Macron), was unable to absorb the continuous realistic or logical mistakes committed. In a scientific non-political analysis, it seemed to him that Lebanese officials and politicians were subjected to waves of ruminating thoughts, as well as, suffering from a sickly condition similar to self-loathing, thus, sharing the same fate as the crushed nation. The desire for self-harm was apparent, a hatred arising out of an unsettled negative whirlwind, emanating from the failure to revere the value of a country, whose love is more cherished by the distant ones, rather than the close ones, a country which offered hospitality to refugees and immigrants at the expense of the bankruptcy of its quiet and static inhabitants.
In a related context, security concerns have risen to the surface, for fear of sedating the army and security apparatus through a prescribed bribery attempt that will have a snowball effect, especially after the Minister of Interior talked about diminishing security, and other officials warned of the return to assassinations of “prominent dignitaries”, as stated by a representative in Parliament, leading to increased concerns and adding to the misery, even with the wolves remaining in their caves.
Is a solution possible? Advertisements for similar types of medications are comparable to a certain extent, as the US State Department claimed yesterday that the Lebanese people deserve reforms, while French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, stated that “time is running out for saving Lebanon, and Lebanese politicians are failures”. The Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement saying “Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, met during his business visit to Abou Dhabi with Lebanese Prime Minister-Designate, Saad Harriri, who was entrusted by Lebanese President Michel Aoun with the task of forming a new government, following the compulsory consultations with parliamentary blocs in the Lebanese Parliament, and in-depth issues were explored to bring an end to the critical situation in Lebanon, with emphasis on the importance of promptly overcoming the social and economic impasse, through forming an able, mission-oriented government of technocrats”. The International Support Group for Lebanon voiced “concerns about the resignation of the government seven months ago, which impeded Lebanon’s capacities for tackling the increasing, and ever more complicated political, social, financial, economic and institutional challenges, and meet the needs and legitimate aspirations of the Lebanese People”.
In concluding, and far from any interpretations, it seems that all these appeals and calls, as well as, the attempts at faltering conciliations to restore amends, are not leading to, nor providing any incentive to form a new government that saves the country and people. Things are very complicated, and the threads intertwined, which should come as no surprise, as long as, the natives “the people of the house” are beating on the drums. Many citizens whose poverty has been transcended by despondency, believe that there is now a need for total anarchy, based on the saying “reconstruction follows destruction”. Consequently, the refusal of international and regional countries to hold corrupt officials accountable and shake the wand at stragglers, makes the query legitimate: do they harbor “total anarchy” for diverse motives, which otherwise, they do not demonstrate?
Scholar in Security and Strategic Affairs
Beirut, 12/03/2021
