some guy in lebanon

The election went over well… all things considered – I will admit I know very little about it. However, I wanted to share an e-mail I sent to NY Times contributor Thomas Friedman after he published this story: Ballots over Bullets in which he roundly declared Lebanon’s elections clean, fair, honest, and part of a “wind of change” in the region.

I wrote him (he has yet to reply) the following: (Solidaire is Downtown Beirut and “Bukhra, InshaAllah” means “Tomorrow it will happen, God Willing” and it is said when it will most certainly not happen tomorrow)

Mr. Friedman – Your piece on the Lebanese elections was certainly sweet, and a wonderful line to toe, but I’m sure you’re aware that in Lebanon, there’s no such thing as “the real deal.” Don’t make me quote your own book to you…. You failed to mention, for example, vote buying at $2000 a head, or the remarkable speed that Hezbollah accepted the results of their extremely expensive loss (10 minutes flat – I timed it). You know as well as anyone that a preponderance of evidence in Lebanon, especially when it is made up largely of good-will and cheer, upon the shallowest of inspection will immediately reveal foul play.

The only influence Obama had on the elections over the weekend was signing off on the fixup-deal between the Saudis and the Syrians to keep things calm and keep their respective allies off the streets, for reasons that include more than just keeping their flats in Solidaire from losing half their value over night. I’m sure we could also include in that same list of reasons for a fix the fact that Persians, Arabs, and Israelis alike enjoy the clubs downtown (those within shelling distance of Ras Beirut and the airport) far better than those horrible places that are shielded from mortar fire in Jounieh.

But the most likely reason is that everyone’s lost their shirt in Dubai and they need the Lebanese economy’s projected 4% growth in 2009 to be more than myth.

Indeed, I’m sure on Friday night you could find members of both March 8 and March 14 kissing cheeks at Buddha Bar, toasting to the deal, likely engineered by the Obama White House, that kept the Belvedere and Red Bull (and foreign remittances) flowing, overlooking with the disastrous consequence of simultaneously guaranteeing the continued existence of Hezbollah’s arms.

I don’t mind the shrewdness of those foreign players who engineered a calm election weekend – those of us who do business here are better for it – I only mind that those who should know better chose instead to pretend that a Lebanese wink is as true-blue as a “Bukhra, InshaAllah.”

And of course, there’s nothing like delaying inevitable hard decisions (how to disarm Hezbollah without sparking civil war) in the name of the free market, especially when you can get everyone to believe (or pretend to believe) that it was Democratic. And nobody enjoys “Democratically” delaying tough choices like the Lebanese and their puppet-masters.

It was reading your book in Portland, Maine, in 8th grade that eventually brought me to this country – don’t let me down by stilting your analysis of this maze of a country twenty years later… your readers deserve better than that.

Yours truly,

Some Guy in Lebanon

That’s pretty much all I have to say – I’ve met people all over Beirut who alternatively believe that the election was free (Nick I’m looking at you), and those who think it was a sham – From my perspective, given the current economic climate of the Middle East, and given that the decision makers in Iran and the Arab world have too much invested in Lebanon right now, the thing smells like a fix. But then again, I could be wrong. We’ll have to see what happens – if a cabinet and a government are formed quickly and without too many problems, well… then we’ll have something to ponder. But even if plans for forming a government stall, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fix, it just means that things move quickly beneath one’s feet in Lebanon.

On a more positive note, I spent Thrusday at world-renouned club Sky Bar for their Opening Night – I didn’t get to take many pictures and they all turned out bad, but here are some pictures from the night taken by BeirutNightlife.com – Sky Bar is known in many circles as the world’s best club, and it certainly didn’t let me down (for more pictures of the evening, click here)…

White on Friday was more dilluted…I guess everyone was down the street.

Missing everyone back home – looking forward to my trip this summer to see you all!