I am still in Boston; I have no time to write elaborately on the assassination of Pierre Gemayyel. But it is rather odd. Pierre Gemayyel is now part of a tiny political movement, and has no influence in Lebanon. Of course, he engendered a lot of resentment among Muslims two years ago when he made a speech in which he talked about "quality versus quantity" which was interpreted by Muslim Lebanese as an indication of his belief in the genetic superiority of Christian Lebanese. Of course, this belief has been a cornerstone of the ideology of the Phalanges Party which was founded by his fascistic grandfather, Pierre, and is now headed by his corrupt father, Amin. Now the method of this assassination is different from the previous assassinations in Lebanon. One wonders whether the assassins are the same, or whether this is somebody who was taking matters in his/her own hands to punish Pierre Gemayyel for his his notorious speech. Of course, the Bush Doctrine and the sudden discovery of Lebanon by the US administration, the Israeli humiliation in Lebanon and the consistent Israeli sabotage in Lebanon, and the desire by Syria to restructure Lebanese politics to reward friends and to punish enemies, all that make the slide of Lebanon into instability more certain. But Lebanon may remain in a state of on-the-verge-of-civil-war for months and years to come without actually getting into civil war. I expect clashes and assassinations, but not an all-out civil war as such.