Shibli Al-Mallat (the Hummus candidate): has just officially made himself the Lebanonese Lyndon LaRouche. I lost any respect for this man when a) he used the Sabra and Shatila trial in Belgium as self-promoting publicity stunt; b) when he wrote that silly piece for An-Nahar about "his friend" Paul Wolfowitz" in which he argued that contrary to what people think Paul Wolfowitz is a good friend of the Arabs. But he has now transformed himself into a political joke. Shibli Al-Mallat, a close friend of Ahmad Chalabi, just announced his candidacy for the Lebanese presidency. And if (as I always say) sectarianism is the last refuge of a scoundrel in Lebanon, Al-Mallat made sure to offer the most fawning and pathetic praise for the Maronite Patriarch hoping that he will get the sectarian cover that he wants. He also offered the most fawning praise for right-wing sectarian publisher, Ghassan Tuwayni, hoping to get free media coverage. And very innocently, he said that both the Maronite Patriarch and Tuwayni would make great presidents for Lebanon. He wrote a most incoherent piece for An-Nahar to declare his candidacy. His chances of winning are not slightly higher than my chances of winning the US presidency. I never met Al-Mallat: we know people in common and we communicated in the past. Al-Mallat was always, I am told, somebody who took his self way too seriously. But with this declaration, he certainly does not have to worry about being taken too seriously.