Recommendations

As a high school student I am pretty much oblivious to many of the possibilities of foreign affair as well as conflicts between countries such as lebanon and the United States. On the other hand, studying the Lebanese Government these past couple of months I can say that I have a bief, general idea of where the country stands on some issues and how countries like the US might be able to aid it.

The president of Lebanon and the president of the United States

First of all, regarding the issue with Syria, because I have been focusing on Lebanon, I might side with this part of the argument more, but I personally do not think that Syria should be keeping in control of Lebanon like she is doing now. I would suggest the United States side with Lebanon in getting the syrians out of the Lebanese territory and ending most death casualties. Nawarf A. Salam, in his book "Options for Lebanon" says if there was an withdraw of the Syrian army in Lebanon, it would prejudice Syrian stability and Lebanon would not have any military help. For that reason, the US, by aiding Lebanon with military support, would enable them to get the security they seek as well as provide Syrians with less conflict between different opinions.

Lebanese soldiers rode atop an aging American M113 armored personnel carrier

according to the US Department of Defense, "The United States seeks to maintain its traditionally close ties with Lebanon, and to help preserve its independence, sovereignty, national unity, and territorial integrity." It also says that it is currently in the border of Syria and Lebanon helping disarm the territory.

Economy wise, "In 2011, major U.S. exports to Lebanon were mineral fuel and oil, vehicles, machinery, pharmaceutical products, and cereals." because Lebanon's economy is service oriented, they need more agricultural imports. This is where Brazil, a highly agricultural country comes in exporting to Lebanon products such as soy, cotton, sugar cane, and other products of different sectors they might need. this would help enrich the Brazilian economy as well as provide Lebanon with different if not maybe cheaper options of consumption. According to "the Inner Circle" website, there is a similar relation alreay taking place. "More than 75 Brazilian exporting companies will be promoting Brazilian goods & services in Lebanon & the region, while looking for fruitful partnerships and collaboration opportunities that aim at strengthening business dynamics between the latter parties."

Miguel Jorge, Minister of Foreign Trade and the President of Lebanon

Sources:

"Options for Lebanon" by Nawarf A. Salam

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35833.htm

http://theinnercircle.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/lebanon-to-host-brazils-largest-trade-delegation-to-date/

Nature of Government - Najib Mikati resignation and the new prime minister

If you remember in one of my first entries, I had said that Najib Mikati, a Hezbollah was prime minister of Lebanon. Well, just a few weeks ago, we watched this same man resign from his position and make history in the lebanese territory.

However, while it might sound daring that a prime minister resigns, some sources mention that his action was somewhat expected ever since he started having problems with his own party. According to the Forbes website, the reason why resigned was no other than the increase in tension over the supporters and opposition of Bashar-al-Assad.  Also, he was scared that the elections that were scheduled to happen soon would cause much turmoil in the government specially because discussion over a new electoral law was takin place.

In an article for the Al Arabiya website, Mustafa Allouch, a member of the Lebanese government said that Mikati’s resignation "came very late and will not change much in the country’s political dynamics.”Allouch said Mikati has long sought “a way out because Hezbollah’s camp is weak.” However, the limitation of a quote like this is due to the fact that Mustafa Allouch is part of the Sunni party but also has a past for greatly criticizing the Hezbollah. On the other hand, because we can categorize him as part of the opposition, he might be able to give us information that the Hezbollah party itself does not put out such as its own weakness. 

With 124 of the 128 votes, the new Prime minister of Lebanon is Tammam Salam. he is obviously part of the Hezbollah and he seemed pretty confident when he said that "The consensus around my nomination is the biggest proof of the intention of political forces to save the country." 

Sources:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/22/Lebanon-back-in-political-deadlock-PM-Mikati-set-to-resign.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2013/03/22/billionaire-lebanese-prime-minister-najib-mikati-resigns/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/middleeast/tamam-salam-asked-to-form-a-government-in-lebanon.html?_r=0