Friday, November 25, 2005

Walid Jumblat: the buying and selling in Lebanonese politics. He is the star of the Lebanonese opposition. But his political shifts are known to all Lebanese. A recent new twist and change in his rhetoric and discourse suddenly occurred last week upon the announcement that he was invited to visit Washington, DC in February. That man, who is capable of weekly changes, changed again. In an interview with Al-Afkar magazine, he said: "King `Abdullah (of Saudi Arabia) is one of the distinguished Arab kings....There is permanent coordination with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially with King `Abdullah." By the way, he still heads a party that calls itself: "The Progressive Socialist Party." But given the sectarian political nature of political parties in Lebanon, his followers will follow him even if he named his party the Potato Party. That is the nature of sectarian politics in Lebanon. He had a late-night dinner with Samir Ja`ja`, a rival war lord whose records in war crimes exceeds that of Jumblat, whose militia terrorized Beirut AND the mountain in the 1980s. I bet that he did not tell Ja`ja` what he says about the Lebanese Forces or about the Maronites in private. He usually points to his shoes when speaking about them.