Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I heard mini-Hariri speak in Cairo today. He referred to Fu'ad Sanyurah as "the prime minister who is elected by the Lebanese parliament." This is as inaccurate as the constant Western references to "the democratically elected government of Sanyurah". Of course, Lebanon does not have a parliamentary democracy--Lebanon does not have a democracy if you ask me. But according to Lebanon's political system, the prime minister is designated by the president on the basis of binding parliamentary consultations. Hariri is of course the leader of the largest bloc of the Lebanese parliament. That tells you something about Lebanon's politics.