What is next for Lebanon? Did you see the face of Sa`d Hariri reading (and fumbling) the statement written for him by Hani Hammud and Walid Jumblat? He looked as pleased as when Ahmad Chalabi was informed that he did not win one seat in the Iraqi puppet parliament, or when Salam Fayyad was informed that he has won a whopping 1% of the votes in the Palestinian puppet legislative parliament. But Marcel Ghanim (the annoying host of LBC's Kalam An-Nas who never misses a show without praising House of Saud and who used to be sociable with Rustum Ghazalah) summed it all when he told Walid Jumblat during the interview today that "you are surrendering." But while I never agree with Jumblat (not in his Syria days and not in his Israel days), I did agree with him when he commented on Nasrallah's statement today by saying that it contains a contradiction: that on the one hand Nasrallah says Jumblat is a thief, killer, liar, and agent of Israel and yet he offers dialogue with him. But then again: Jumblat is the king of contradiction: he precipitated the current crisis by calling for an end to the communication lines and calling Hizbullah responsible for the assassinations in Lebanon, and yet today (as he does once a week) he called Hizbullah "the resistance" and spoke of the need for its protection, and even for the preservation of the communication lines that he called for its elimination. But the most grotesque part of Jumbalt was when he said: "My blood is Palestinian and my history is Palestinian." Yes, and I am sure that he only discusses the liberation of Palestine when he meets with Elliott Abrams. And did you hear Jumblat make a reference to "Condy"? I wonder if he refers to Olmert as "Olmertiti". But the major conclusion from the developments in the streets of Beirut is this: given the retreat of Hariri militia, one can conclude that Jordanian training of Hariri goons has been as effective as Jordanian training of Dahlan goons, and as effective as Jordanian training of Iraqi puppet troops. I am sure that some in Israel are now saying: we did a better job when we trained the executioners of Sabra and Shatila. But there is an additional worry: Hariri militia operates like Dahlan militia by relying on mercenaries. Now, they may draw upon the only ideological committed elements in their ranks: Al-Qa`idah and other Bin Ladenties groups. Relatives of my mother were reporting last week with alarm that Hariri buses were bringing fanatical salafi fighters into Tariq Al-Jadidah.