Siniora will not return to power

Rumours are aflutter within some political circles in Beirut that Saad Hariri will ultimately give up and the outgoing prime minister Fuad Siniora will form a new government, wrote Sarkis Naoum in his regular column published by the Lebanese newspaper Annahar.  The same circles, who are using the media in their attempt to fool public opinion, claim that the regional and international powers such as Egypt and the US do not wish to see Siniora leave the government.

However the condition and price for the outgoing prime minister to remain in office is the failure of Saad Hariri, to which he can not contribute, given his long friendship with the prime minister designate. Moreover, Egypt is aware, despite the country's stature as a major regional power, that its "Lebanese role" has diminished, particularly during the second half of last century, and that the little left by a larger Syrian, Saudi and Iranian involvement will not allow it to carry out its full agenda anymore. And this in regard, Syria and Iran are clearly opposed to a comeback of Siniora.   In sum, those who are trying to "scare" the Lebanese with a probable return of Siniora, because he is Egypt's and America's ally, are but fueling hostility against the man and his team and at the same time spurring divisions in the Hariri camp.

As expected, the ceasefire in and around Saada, in Yemen, where government troops are fighting a sixth round of the war against the al Houthi group rebels, did not last long, wrote Khayrallah Khayrallah in an opinion piece published by the Jordanian daily Al Rai.

According to the columnist, the Yemeni government will very likely succeed in eradicating the rebel movement, as it does not represent a danger for the country alone, but for all its neighbours. The choice of Saada, given its geographic situation, was not random and the rebel movement is obviously intending to spread to other parts of the country, and even beyond borders, as part of a clear agenda to fuel sectarian conflicts and destabilise the whole Gulf region.

The best alternative is for the military operations to target a geographic containment of the movement. The mission will require the collaboration of all Yemeni tribes. But many believe the tribes cannot reach an agreement to join forces in the fight against the al Houthis, due not only to historic conflicts among the tribes themselves, but also a long-term negligence toward the provinces of Saada and Imran by the central government.  The Yemeni tribes have many reasons to blame the government, but they cannot ignore what is at stake and the extent of the threat the al Houthis pose both internally and regionally.

A few weeks ago, the US administration leaked the broad lines of its new Middle East settlement plan to media and diplomats in Washington and a number of European capitals, wrote Ali Badwan in the London-based Saudi newspaper Al Hayat.

The expected plan, according to American media, heralds a final and comprehensive settlement of the long conflict in the Middle East. Washington is convinced that a final resolution of the Middle East conflict is possible, if Arab states engage in steps described by the US administration as necessary to push the Israelis to accept a permanent settlement.   The American plan, which will be officially announced by the US president Barack Obama by the end of September, proposes the deployment of international troops in the West Bank to cut the future Palestinian state from its Arab neighbours. It excludes major Jewish settlements from the negotiations, puts large portions of East Jerusalem under Israeli control and bans Palestinians from signing any security agreements with a third country.Agreed-upon numbers of refugees will be progressively allowed to settle in the West Bank, particularly from Lebanon. What the US administration is actually seeking is a settlement way below the requirements of international resolutions. President Obama's expected initiative is finally even worse than the flawed road map.

Lubna Hussein is the Sudanese journalist whose reports interested no one, but found herself under the spotlight because of her trousers, wrote Khairy Mansour in the Jordanian Arabic daily Addustour.

The size and measures of Lubna's trousers gained more interest than death and famine in Sudan and became far more important than occupation of Iraq, Palestine, the Golan Heights. They provoked more reactions than the invasion of Iraq or Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand Jewish settlements.     Lubna's trial was but another charade than ended up with a $200 fine, the price of a pair of shorts at Pierre Balmain in Paris, London or New York.

It was nothing more than an exit from a political, ethical and, above all, media deadlock. It is hard to find a serious approach to such an event. There is a rising trend in the Arab region to focus on minor issues instead of major ones, to the extent that we become part of a comic play in the midst of the tragedy we are living.  * Digest compiled by Mohammed Naji [e-mail]