The Lebanese prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, submitted his cabinet list to the president, Michel Suleyman, but without seeking prior approval of the opposition in an unprecedented move in Lebanese political tradition, wrote Mazen Hammad, in the Qatari newspaper Al Watan. Despite the fact that he respected the 15+10+5 principle - 15 ministerial portfolios for the majority, 10 for the opposition and five ministers to be appointed by the president - Hariri presented a "de facto" list, which was not approved by the opposition.
According to the columnist, Hariri's failure to reach consensus led him to print the 30 name list, decide on the distribution of the ministerial portfolios, submit it directly to the president and wait for his reply. Immediately, the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, sent a envoy to the president, to inform him that the opposition rejected the way Hariri acted. In a similar reaction, Hizbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said he would act against the new and unfit pattern followed by the prime minister in waiting. Hariri said the suggested formation was balanced and sought harmony within the team, but in fact the way he challenged democratic values will only contribute to more divisions among the Lebanese and further complicate the situation. That is why President Suleyman cannot give his approval.
For the last two weeks, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, has been under the double fire of the French and Israeli governments, wrote Mohammed Ballout in an opinion article published by the Beirut-based daily Assafir.
The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has criticised ElBaradei and supported Israeli accusations that the latter did not faithfully transmit to his board of governors the information collected by the IAEA inspectors from Iranian nuclear sites two weeks ago. ElBaradei is accused of circulating a report that left out important information on the development of the Iranian nuclear programme. The Israelis further accuse the IAEA director general of connivance with the Iranian regime. So ElBaradei found himself compelled, for the second time in one week, to respond to accusations "formulated by member states through the media for political purposes and void of any elements of truth". According to ElBaradei's report, Iran has relatively decreased its uranium enriching activities and complied with some of the IAEA's requirements by improving the monitoring of a number of sites, but it will have to respond to reliable claims that it is conducting secret research to develop a nuclear bomb.
A few days ago, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, paid a visit to Syria where he met government officials, signed bilateral agreements, and addressed the Syrian people at a full stadium in the southern city of Suwaida, wrote Zine al Shami in the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai al Aam.
Whoever listens to the South American president's words would fancy himself in a dream from another time when Arab capitals lived to the rhythm of resonating slogans. President Chavez served his audience more slogans than Jamal Abdel Nasser, Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi. The question is why the city of Suwaida and not Damascus, Aleppo or any of the other Syrian cities. As a matter of fact, the city has a special relation with Venezuela. More than 200,000 Syrian nationals from Suwaida live and work in the South American oil-rich country.
This, in addition to the agreements signed earlier by his accompanying delegation, particularly the travel visa ban between the two countries, explains the large crowd in the stadium and the popular welcome the Venezuelan president received. Indeed, Syrians are tired of slogans and have grown aware that these do not feed the hungry. Trips to Caracas are henceforth possible for Syrians without a visa, but the only difference is that now they will hear slogans in Spanish instead of Arabic.
The World Bank is supposed to be a development bank with a mission to promote the economies of developing countries, wrote Fahd al Fanik in the Jordanian daily Al Rai. However, the Bank has abandoned this mission and transformed itself into a profit-making institution granting loans not related to its prime mission. The Bank was also created to fund public sector projects. On the contrary, today it is encouraging the private sector and reducing the sphere of action of the public sector. As this international organisation has become just another financial institution making huge profits, it is now paying astronomic salaries to its staff.
Moreover, the World Bank loans are more complicated than normal market loans, as they stand in priority for reimbursement over any other loans and cannot be postponed or rescheduled or cancelled. Accordingly, states have no advantage in seeking loans from the World Bank, which in addition to all the above applies interest rates higher than the market ones. As a matter of fact, only those countries with an unacceptable credit record would borrow from the World Bank as private banks would refuse to grant them any loans.
* Digest compiled by Mohamed Naji mnaji@thenational.ae
