Lebanon Aggregator

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Let us at least stay Friends

This is a group that has been created on Facebook. Its main purpose is to tell the Lebanese people to stay friends despite what's going on.

At first you might think this is a ridiculous group, but let me tell you it actually is a pretty out of the box idea. It is because it's true. Luckily my friends and I already can forsee the consequences of talking politics, and that's why we just don't. Some might disagree and recommend communication, however that is precisely the problem here. The thing is, politics in Lebanon has become so intertwined with personal issues that we will definitely end up arguing, yelling at each other and possibly stop talking to each other, and it happened with some folks.

That is why, refrain from talking politics because:
1- You won't change anything
2- You will end up losing good friends of yours

Of course, when you decide to talk about the well being of your country and people, instead of talking about Aoun, Geagea, Jomblat, Nasrallah, Berri, Hariri, etc... Ideas vs People.... Just remember!

Arab Traffic Week

Drive carefully people!!

Now is the time

Quoting my brother: "Now is the time to close the airport" *


*All leaders are in Qatar

Recap on the past 3 days in Lebanon

The Arab Ministerial Committee's mission was a success. Their mission last wednesday was to calm things down, open the airport again, bring opposition and government closer, adopt the fact that the government retracted the May 5 decisions, and went on with the next step which is dialog.

This time, dialog is going to take place in Doha, Qatar.

No more signs of weapons on the streets, no more clashes, several airplanes landed in Beirut's airport yesterday, and several left our airport today.

In the past 3 to 4 days, some of the government's officials and pro-government political party leaders, such as Saad Hariri, Fouad Siniora, Samir Geagea, etc... have toughed up their tones, while many thought that it only meant things were not going to get better even with the Arab Ministerial Committee's upcoming efforts.

But in my opinion, it was only a theatrical broadway show, orchestrated to make those pro-government people appear as they are pissed, because if they do show that they backed down so smoothly, the pro-government followers, and the big players who support this government were going to be extremely pissed.

In my opinion, the government did not lose per se, however it compromised for the sake of this country.

Brainwash, Extremism, Animals

Day after day I only realise how much difference there is between us and they, between the people who want this, and the people who want that.

It is not only about what we want and what they want, it's about how we look at things and how they look at things.

To be able to look at the other and trust them without being afraid, takes a lot of work and patience, and few of us are willing to invest time in shortening the distance of ignorance.

I received today a powerpoint presentation about Iran, sent by people who don't want to be terrorized by Hezbollah and Iran (according to them) and trying to raise awareness in their own way. Of course, it had pictures of executed men, hung from their necks and left to die for actions as silly as drinking booze, men being tortured and whipped and women being buried while alive and such. I don't know when was that, or where was that exactly, it might be Iran or not, but wherever it was, it is horrible, inhumane, unacceptable, existant and there should be something we can do about it.

It depends on which level you are looking at things, because today I can only see two poles when watching TV, reading the news websites and listening to the news on the radio. These two poles are as far from each other as they can be, and as close to each other as they shouldn't be, or maybe they should be that close?

It's very simple, I know many people, and I might be one of them, who are afraid of Hezbollah everthrowing the government, ruling Lebanon and making Lebanon a second Iran. How do we answer those fears? are they valid? do they make sense?

In its sacred and divine ideology, religion should be here to help, and not ruin and destroy. As smart and intelligent as a human being can be, as extremist and dangerous and stupid as "human being" can be. Brainwashing? That's another story. I will talk about it some other time.

Awaiting.... what?

Sunday 11th of May, 2008, the 5th day of the bloody demonstration gone wrong, of the strike gone war, of the genuine demands gone terrorizing.

The airport road, the port road and the Masnaa road (bordering with Syria) is still closed, and many other roads in Beirut are still closed. Lebanese army is widely spread in all Beirut, and there are no sign of armed men on the streets, even the Sukleen cleaners are on the roads cleaning. However the civil disobedience asked for by the Opposition leaders is still present until all their demands are met.

North Lebanon is calmer now, some sort of agreement on calming things down have been set.

Many foreigners are leaving Lebanon, and some have been advices by their own embassies to leave Lebanon.



The arab ministers will be in session soon, in order to discuss the current crisis in Lebanon. Should we expect much from them? I believe not, until now, they never really helped this much. Refraining from offending anyone, but we all know who the big regional players are, and at this point, all negotiations are done silently and discretly away from the crowds.

The death toll has risen to more than 40, I don't have the exact number, but yesterday alone had 20 casualties. In particular, the victim during the Tarik Jadidah's funeral.

Siniora is not budging, the army is trying to compromise, the opposition is still firm, less firm than the beginning, nonetheless, it appears for the situation to get better, it needs a minimum of another 2, 3 days of tension.

Lebanese Army`s statement to the rescue

The Lebanese Army declared the following statement (not word by word):
- It has been decided to keep Chief Wafik Shoukeir in his position in the airport
- Demanded for all armed forces to be withdrawn from the streets, and to open all the streets

I believe that this statement, is not only the road for things to get better, but it is even better than we have asked for.

With the leadership of the army deciding to keep the Chief Shoukeir in his position in the airport, the first point of Nasrallah's demand is being met, and the first point of the government's demand is also applied.

By this, Hezbollah is bound to accept the 2nd point of the government which is electing General Michel Sleiman as president, as courtesy to his wise decisions in the past few days and especially in the Shoukeir one.

Moreover, this can lead everyone to the dialog again.

Prediction not for the near future, but for the slightly far one, there will be new elections soon.

Peace in Lebanon, or Hell on Earth

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding." Albert Einstein (1979-1955)

This is actually the proverb that I have had as "Quote of the week" for the past year I think, and everytime I decide to put a new proverb, I just can't find anything that describes our needs in Lebanon better.

As simple and straight to the point this quote is, as perfect as it describes what's happening now.

While listening to Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the general secretary of Hezbollah political party, and military leader of the Lebanese Islamic resistence against any foreign insurgence, i.e. ISRAEL, I can't help but think how much this person is logical and convincing, nevertheless, this man's press conference had some flaws in it.

He did say, that anyone who tries to put his hands on Hezbollah's weapons, will be answered by the weapons, even if it is his dad. Hezbollah have a firm belief that Israel are their ennemies and are trying with the US to take over, more like, erase the Middle East. They strongly believe that they should and will react against their own brothers and sisters for the greater goal. I sometimes see where they are coming from, but I am also torn to think and ask myself: "Do I want to be terrorized by a very strong and powerful group". This is their beliefs, as we say in Lebanese "Yesteflo", this is their own war, and they are willing to kill and cause much distress, chaos and death in their own country just so they can achieve their own goal, which I don't necessarily believe is righteous myself. But if all your life you have been raised to think something, do you think anyone can come and change your mind? If anything, it is definitely not by weapons and stuborness.

The government knew better, and this is why for the past 26 years no one dared to criticize Hezbollah, not only the past 2 years or so, and this is when General Aoun signed on the Agreement form with Hezbollah. And FPMers wonder why some people went crazy over this step. Aoun did it because he felt that he was thrown out of the government, and Aoun, believing (maybe he does) of having a large audience in Lebanon who love him, wants to be a President. This is not the history of Lebanon, the history of Lebanon can have thousands of versions and stories and this is not what I intend to do. At this point, I am just trying to roughly see where each faction comes from and how it is IMPOSSIBLE for us Lebanese to ever agree on something.

Lebanese history cannot be written.

Is it wrong to not take Life to seriously spending all the time fighting for something, that most probably is not that important? What is life really, and what is our mission? Shouldn't just we live well and let others live well? Yes, naive thought.

I personally do not want to spend my life worried about people I know and love, thinking at any moment, they can be near an explosion, near a clash, and so on. Is this what Lebanon is? Will it ever be a normal country? This small country has so many differences, and what confuses me the most, is that politics aside, the majority wants to just lead a normal life in Lebanon. We all praise Lebanon, and how beautiful it is, a heaven on earth, sea near the mountains, partying and clubbing, activities, fun, music, great food.

Is it really? Most of the time it is, but the couple of months per year, in which we are blessed to have, a war with Israel, a war with Shaker el Absi and his crew, and now once again a war between each other! Only brings me back to feel like I am in Hell, and Lebanon is nothing but Hell on Earth.

There is no way, we will ever agree on something, if we do, it's only temporary.

Round up about the latest clashes in Beirut

While someone thinks they've seen it all in Lebanon, and in Beirut in particular, the day and night carries with them another type of attack, another type of distress and another form of disappointment.

Yesterday, 6 institutions of media have been closed, and not just had their doors closed, in fact they're doors are wide open, but everything inside is either burned or broken to pieces. These institutions belong to the Future TV, Radio and Newspaper, and their variety of offices. The whole TV building has been burned by members belonging to the opposition factions.



This is a video of Sahar Al Khatib, a reporter from Future TV talking with a genuine voice about what happened to Future insitutions, on Kalam Al Nas show with Marcel Ghanem on LBCI.

Journalists and media personnel gathered at the Bourj Al-Ghazal Tower in Tabaris to express their rejection of yesterday’s forced closure of media institutions by opposition factions.

Yesterday's images have been scary, empty roads of residential areas with armed men walking and shooting in the air, scaring off anyone who thinks of going out to the balcony and checking out the weather. People were not able to get to Beirut or Leave to Beirut. Schools and Educational institutes, shops, banks, everything is closed in Beirut. Beirut is under siege.

Today, all locations that have been "occupied" by our own Lebanese brothers, have been handed over to the Lebanese army.



Moreover, the clashes and gunfire reached out to Aley, a druze region in majority. All in all, clashes, blocades and victims were not only in Beirut, but some parts of Bekaa, both Lebanese-Syrain borders, Masnaa and North Lebanon, Aley, Shouweyfat, Saida, Khaldeh, etc...

Below is a video about a real and spontenaous reaction for a kid and woman to gunfire near them in Beirut, this was broadcasted on Al-Arabia TV.



After Moorab's meeting yesterday for March 14, its outcome according to Lebanese-Forces leader Samir Geagea, that the recent events led by the opposition is an armed manner to overthrow the government. Read more about it here.

In the last three days and according to the Media, the toll is 18 casualties.

The most recent clashes are in Halba - Akkar, and word that there are 2 victims so far. For minute to minute news, check Tayyar.org, LebanonFiles.com and NowLebanon.com for more opinions and coverage.

Hariri threw back the ball to Hezbollah`s court

In summary, the speech that Hariri gave tonight at 8:10 pm, in response to Nasrallah's press conference this afternoon, concluded in 4 main points which Hariri believes if Nasrallah complies by them, then he does mean well.
1- Within the army regime, there will be ones assigned to investigate the Chief Shoukair issue
2- Reopen the road to the airport and free Beirut from its siege
3- Elect General Michel Sleiman as President
4- Sit together and try to talk things thru led by the newly elected president.

Hariri also highly insisted that he does not want a war and turmoil erupting between sunnist and chiite, and their sole enemy is Israel, and that the airport will not become a base for CIA, FBI and Mossad, and the issue with the communication was not a problem if it is about 3, 4 or 5000 lines, but when it reached 99000 and 999000 then it is a threatening issue for the government and they need to maintain national security.

Now, this kinds of seems like the government is willing to give and take, they did not exactly answer Nasrallah's two demands to make things better, but I believe this is how negotiations go.

Let's cross our fingers.

Nasrallah threw the ball in the government`s court

Or at least, this is how he made it appear. No one denies the power of convincing this man has, but there were a lot of flaws in his press conference. I will get into them later.

But in a summary, he spoke about 3 main points:
1- The private communications central
2- The airport and Chief Wafik Shoukair
3- The crisis

The major points were the following:
1- Sheik Nasrallah explained that a major part of a resistance or army's weapons are the communications, and they need a safe one as unwired and mobile phones are breached and will allow Israel to know their tactics.
2- He called this government to be Walid Jumblat's government, whom is an employee working for Condoleeza Rice
3- The airport step, is to prevent from any clashes in the future with the army and national security, because Hezbollah has no desire in clashing with the army, showing much respect to them
4- Nasrallah threatened anyone who approaches their weapons, will get his hand cut off. Even though he promised before that Hezbollah's weapons won't be used inside Lebanon, he said when the government crossed the line and declared war by taking the decision that Hezbolla's communications are illegal and a national threat
5- Narallah said that they have no interest in taking over the country, the government or any political stand.
6- The don't want Chief Wafik Shoukair to be removed, because they don't want the airport to become an FBI, CIA and Mossad base, which is near their homes.
7- Nasrallah told others to stop using the "Civil war erupting between sunnist and chiite" anymore, as it will not happen!
8- He finally said that there are two things the government can do that will solve the recent issues in Lebanon, which is taking back the decisions in confiscating Hezbolla's communication (which is a big part of their weapons), and answering Berri's call for dialog.

There has been heard some gun shooting as a joyful response to Nasrallah's press conference once it finished, which later led to armed clashes in the streets of Beirut, in principal in Kornishe Al Mazraa, Ras Al Nabaa, Aisha Bakkar, Karakol el Druze.



It has moved from just burning tires, throwing rocks, blocking roads and occasional gun fire in the air, it is now officially a battle between members from Hezbollah and members from the Future Movement, using AK47, RPGs, B7 and Bombs...

Some minutes pass by when it is relatively calm, and only after a couple of minutes to reintiate the gunfire between the two groups. Some persons are wearing masks, and hiding behind buildings, and stealing a moment every minute to shoot at the others, and at buildings. Smoke can be seen from as far as Mount Lebanon.

The party has just begun, Saad Hariri will have another press conference tonight, and now that the ball is in the government's court, I do not see any atom of hope that they will calm things down, as a matter of fact, there is a high probablity that they will only escalate things. Which will translate into the streets as more shootings, bombs and rockets.

The army at this point is not getting involved, I believe they cannot do anything right now, due to the fact that the leaders of both parties did not try to halt anything. The army gave a statement that things cannot be solved by guns, but only by dialog.

Armed clashes for now are between Sunni members and Shiite members, no christian existence yet. If by any shroud of bad luck, christians do get involve, there is a risk that the clashes will reach christian regions, which then officially declares a civil war in Lebanon.

We hope, by a miracle from God, that everything stops today.

For a minute to minute update, check Tayyar.org.
For Sheik Nasrallah's today's press conference in English, check this article on NowLebanon.com

Update: There is a fire in one of the residential areas, and they're shooting at the fire department so they do not put the fire down!

This is bad, very very bad

I've been meaning to sum up what happened starting yesterday and uptill now, but I just can't seem to focus. I can sincerly say, I am scared.

Now that its is being screamed from the top of the roofs that yesterday was a well orchestrated subordination. While the Labors Syndicate Union decided to halt their demonstration and postpone it to another time, the opposition continued their subordination!
The union said that the government was not ready to protect them. What the Union failed to mention was that the ones who closed their roads was the opposition. I believe, the army did a fine job considering the danegrous individuals they were dealing with.

The union, could've done a normal demonstration taking place in one sole location, holding some whiteboards with few slogans on them. But no, they decided to paralyze and open up the opportunity for others to paralyze the capital. Slogans and peaceful gathering were few yesterday. Yes, there were few innocent people really asking and demonstrating against the government for a better living.

After that, the opposition continued to close roads, and the infamously airport road. Many flights were cancelled, no flights departed from Lebanon except empty airplanes. The people who arrived yesterday waited and sat on the ground, some who insisted on leaving the airport had to cross on foot a couple of meters with the help of the army.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we the Lebanese, are being dissected and torn apart by two major evil forces, the Haririst and the Hezbollah!

The coming days will unveil the upcoming war, not necessarily a typical civil war which we are used to, but when RPGs, Snipers and bombs are used in a supposedly "peaceful" demonstration, then it is an ugly battle taking place to say the least.

Uuntil now, some of the Future movement members have closed the road in Saadneyil and also in Masnaa, which is the crossing border between Lebanon and Syria in response to the closing of the road to the airport by Hezbollah. The first, claimed that once the airport road is open, they will open the roads on their ends.

What is funny, is how Tayyar.org refers to Future movement members as "Militia" (which maybe they are), but fails to calls the Hezbollah ones (who are doing exactly the same thing, even though they started it, but it's irrelevant at this moment) militias as well.

Congratulations to propaganda, stupidity and cowardness of the Lebanese people.

Israel closed down our aiport in July 2006, and now Hezbollah closes down the same airport in May 2008.

P.S. When Hezbollah was accused of using spy cameras on the road to the airport, they said if anyone removes those cameras are spies for Israel! Seriously?
Moreover, I don't want to be terrorized into doing or believing something, and at this point Hezbollah is terrorizing the government and the people into succumbing into their own demands.

Kudos for all the political parties for ruining Lebanon just when I thought it couldn't get worse.

Peaceful demonstration or politicized one!

I stand corrected of what I said in yesterday's post, today's demonstration has been completely "politicized", meaning we can obviously see the political sides in it. Opposition on the streets and government on the other side indifferent. It is no longer about underpaid workers!

Gaz, fuel, oil prices have increased today.

Increasing the salaries alone, is not the solution, many things should be taken into consideration. This needs a serious study and not just a simple adjustment. Yes, we should go on the streets and ask for things to be solved and improved, but is this a peaceful demonstration?



It has been said by AL Manar that some Future movement members threw a bomb, rocks, and went up on the roofs to observe and possibly shoot by snipers on the demonstrators! And they even clashed with the army. If this is true (I don't think Al Manar is reliable or objective), then we definitely need our leaders to "control" their followers.



Moreover, Tayyar.org has mentioned that ALL schools, shops and institutions in North Metn have closed. Which is not completely true, they did not close, however parents were worried of what might happen today, so not all parents sent their children to schools, and some (mostly official government workers) tried to reach work, but did not arrive due to some closed roads.
As for shops, many have opened, at least near where I live (which is in North Metn, close to east suburb of Beirut)

(Photos are taken from Tayyar.org)

Calls for demonstration due to recent expensive living expenses

Bit by bit, we the Lebanese have been shot by an anesthesia needle, leaving us stoned and high and not comprehending what has been going onaround us. It is true that the prices of food, oil, transportation and everything directly and indirectly related to them have been rising drastically, while we the Lebanese, have been truly wasting time listening to leaders throw back and forth silly, ridiculous, offensive and useless comments and statements.

Nevertheless, it has been decided that tomorrow, there will be a strike, a demonstration, called by the Lebanese Workers Union, and that is to go on the streets against the government, against the fact that the government is not doing anything about it.

Until today, the minimum wage in Lebanon is 200$. Even though few people receive the minimum wage, still having such low minimum wages, lead to having low salaries in general.

Moreover having prices of milk, cheese, bread, vegetables, fuel, school payments, insurance, continually increasing, is not equivalent or even close to equivalent to actually making ends meet or surviving based on the minimum wage or close amounts of paychecks to it.

Hopefully, the demonstrations will be and remain peaceful, and that the army will do its job when necessary and if anything really needs to be taken care of. We do not want violence or that this demonstration take sides, as opposition against government. We want it to be a simple matter and a righteous demand for the average Lebanese citizen, for the father and mother, whom both salaries barely cover food and school for their children, to improve their life.

More articles on the matter can be read on Tayyar.org.

Road Safety Education in Schools

Kindly click on image for larger size. For interested schools, or if you're a teacher and think the school you teach in might be interested in educating their kids on road safety, call 03/702422 or visit www.yasa.org

Lebanon, good or bad change?

Yesterday while I was driving to work, I had my car's sun roof open, and there was a pickup in front of me throwing diesel from its exhaust, I couldn't breathe anymore! And this made me realize that it has been a couple of weeks since breathing for me has been hard and not quite joyable anymore! We are not breathing oxygen alone, I am not sure what kind of mutant we might become due to this so much pollution in the air, but I know it's bad. We need a solution badly!



There has been some more installation of traffic lights along Jdeideh to Dekwaneh Highway, and amazingly people are respecting it. Maybe not 100%, but a good 85% or so. I love this, us, the Lebanese people, the unorganized chaotic rebellious people, are respecting those lights, and why? Because if we don't, while everybody else is, we die... Or if we don't die, we get a ticket.



This is the end of April, May is usually a great month in Lebanon, the best weather, because it's not too hot or humid, and it's not cold, it's perfect. But what happens to the Tourism in Lebanon? Are tourists going to come to Lebanon this year? I've heard that many countries have warned their citizens from coming to Lebanon, this was a couple of months ago, I am not sure if this is the case. The reason why they are spreading this warning, is because they fear of another war in Lebanon.

War in Lebanon? No way Hosey! 12 days ago, it was April 13, the commemoration of the civil war that erupted in 1975. A war that no body wants, but everybody fears.
But the real war that scares most of the Lebanese, is July 2006's daughter. Will she give birth this summer? I surely hope not. It is definitely the case that Israel has been on their toes lately, especially since Mughnieh was assassinated last winter. However, will they attack? Will Hezbollah do another operation that would tick the Israelis off and bring them to war? I guess not, there is this thing we call surprise, and if they do attack, it won't be a surprise, and one of the best elements of war (not that I encourage it), but in the Art of war, when you want to win something, you ought to surprise your enemy and give it to them when they least expect it.

Alas with the presidential elections, nothing yet. And I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but we hardly notice this emptiness. The real deal is that our life-long complexe insecure leaders finally agree on something, because this is very pathetic. Yes we know, it's not just about Lebanon, but it's also a regional thing, but enough is enough, I sometimes feel while Lebanon was on the top in the middle east, the Switzerland of the east, the paris of the arabs, all those things that are happening to it, only blooms and improves other countries such as UAE, Qatar or Jordan. While we dig deep and sink, they rise and fly. Who's fault is this?

Beirut Freeze

Today, while walking in CityMall Geant in Jdeideh, a huge mall in the eastern Beirut Suburbs, suddenly a big number of people froze for a couple of minutes, not moving at all! I researched the subject and found many video clips on YouTube and that such a thing also happened abroad in other cities in the world such as London, Paris, Edhinburg...

I don't know what that movement is or how such a thing is organized or what the purpose of it is, but it surely is pretty exciting and interesting to look at. I will see if anything is posted soon on youtube.com, I will post a link to it.

This was done in London, on February 16, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PupR5V9aE2s

Where to go when you visit Lebanon - Site 5: Adventure

It's been really a long time since I chose a place to visit in Lebanon and told you about it. (See top right of the blog for the whole list of places to visit in Lebanon).

Well this time, it's not just one place, it is many places at the same time, the key here is not the location, but what you will be doing in this location.

For all adventure lovers out there, Lebanon is a great place to do a lot of different kind of activites, and they are so many. Getting closer to nature is possible in Lebanon, and highly recommended for the great reserves we have and the beautiful scenery you will see.




First of all, there are the classic getting-to-know mountains, such as Rappelling, Climbing, Hiking, Rope Courses (walking on ropes and stuff), caving!





If you got some good sense of direction, wind knowledge and feel like you want to get the stress out, Archery and Tyro are just the things to do! And if it is not things you want to shoot at, but people, then Paintball it is! We have many ready-locations that you can go and play paintball in! Rent your suit, your gun and your paint bullets and "FIRE IN THE HOLE".

If you feel like going from one place to another at a high speed, you can always go on ATVs, or if you feel like you want to really go back in time, horseback riding is very thrilling. And if you are feeling like working those legs, than you should just go biking! Beautiful.





I aready mentioned in a previous post "Where to go when you visit Lebanon - Site 4: Skiing", but of course it is not only skiing that you can do, you can also snowboard, snowshoe, ride a jetski... But that is only during one season (From January to March)

Feel like flying? There are trained monitors who can help you paraglide over the hills of Lebanon!



If you just want to walk your energy off, reach your limits and see what you an handle, there are many valleys you can go to, but I highly recommend taking a long walk in the valley of ANNOUBIN, which is location in the North.

The typical activity which of course is an amazing experience which I personally had the pleasure and opportunity to excercise for over 13 years is Camping. We have great locations, also made especially for installing that tent and preparing that beautiful fire camp to grill some potatoes in.

Finally, if you are a water person, we have those great rivers you can go to and go some rafting, canoeing and if it is not the rivers you want to swim in, you can go to our cost long beach from the North to the South of Lebanon and do some diving, skinautique, voilier...







These are three websites I can think of at this moment, if you want more info you can always contact me and I will help you search for other organizers.

http://www.lebanese-adventure.com/
http://www.blue-carrot.com/
http://www.lareserve.com.lb/
http://www.pine-land.com/

Happy Women`s Day

Kafa - Enough violence and Exploitation.

Kafa is a non-profit organization, dedicated to help women and children who are being abused verbally and physically.

This is their contact info and address:
Address: 43, Badaro Street, Beydoun Bldg., First Floor, Beirut - Lebanon
P.O.Box: 116-5042
Helpline: 961-3-018 019
Website: www.kafa.org.lb

Job Vacancy: President, send in your resumé

Why don't they consider the presidency in Lebanon as a job vacancy. The candidates should submit their CVs(résumés), and if by first look by the recruiter they are qualified for an interview, they get interviewed by the HR. They should of course, take a bath and dress neatly, be punctual and show up to this interview .
We all know the main objective of an interview with the HR is to meet the minimum requirements technically (should have the appropriate background, degrees and experience), and to meet a good deal of personality points such as being presentable, respectful, polite, a good team player and such.

If all goes well, the candidate should go into his next interview, the technical one. Technically for this President job position, the person should know how to run a country, or at least had run a country or something close, to show leadership, self-control, management, diplomacy, patience, wisdom, someone who keeps his promises, knowns about economy, cares for the country and considers its well being as the first priority, respects all the citizens and colleagues, modest, a good listener, someone with a good record (not a criminal, an ex-convict, a ex-crazy person), someone who believes in justice and peace, someone who does not succumb to power, but to strength, instead of leaning below the big players, someone who does not get lured into evil but to good, ...
Things from that sort, if you have more of these job description points, please do comment.

Last thought: "if any of the current candidates apply for this job and should meet all these requirements, who do you really and honestly think will and should get the job?"