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

Domestic Policy - Women in Lebanon

A few days ago I quickly mentioned some issues regarding women in Lebanese territory. The role of women in Lebanon, and many other middle eastern counties, can be described as traditional, not to say ancient. Women are given little to few rights. Lebanon is one of the middle eastern countries with the most social rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of press, etc. However when it comes to women they lack in giving them the same kind of freedom.

As briefly mentioned in my "domestic policies" post, some men considered rape a "marital right" in lebanese relationships. Women in Lebanon are most often victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. There are no laws, however that protect them from that. Quite the contrary, Lebanon is proving to be a more patriarchal country. resisting to improve the lives of women. as mentioned before only 17 women in total served in the Lebanese government.

The issue of women rape and violence in Lebanon is currently one of the most controversial issues. Just a couple months ago, in February women took the streets of lebanon in a march. This was caused after only 48 out of the 128 parliament members of parliament showed support to pass a law shielding women from violence and abuse. A form of protest women found was dancing in front of the country's parliament speaker's home as it can be seen below.

Sources:

http://www.mediterraneas.org/article.php3?id_article=84

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/02/25/268202.html

http://countrystudies.us/lebanon/60.htm

Opposition - Divisions of Lebanon

The Christians

The Christians of Lebanon, also know as the Christian Maronites, created the Phalange in 1936 which is their own political party. "The part believed in the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon and ideologically stood on the right." The Phalange were worried about the Palestinians who moved into Lebanon because they were   bringing in the Arab-Israeli conflict inside Lebanese territory. 

The Christians fought the Lebanese civil war in 1960 and created its own militia group. Their current leader is Amine Gemayel. Click here for their website

Phalange's logo

The Druze

Consists of a minority group Muslims who live not only in Lebanon but also at Syria and Israel. "Their population is around 910,000 and they have lived in region for at least a millennium." Their leader is Kamal Jumblatt. They had disagreements with the Maronites in that they did not like the National Pact which gave different divisions of powers to different religious groups. They also disagreed over the Maronite's opinion of the Palestinian in Lebanese land. While the christians saw as a danger, they agreed with their entering because they were also against Israel. 

Druze Logo

The Shi'as

The Shi'as is a muslim group that was greatly affected by the moving of Palestininas into Lebanese lands. They had to move to the so-called "Poverty Belt" of Beirut. The Shi'as have a militia group that also has the name of the Muslim party, the Hezbollah. "Hezbollah's main target was israeland their militia fought against both the South Lebanon Army and the Israeli troops until the Final Evacuation of the Israelis in 2000. 

Hezbollah Flag

Sources used:

History of Europe and the Middle East - Mariam Habibi

Domestic Policies of Lebanon - overview

To better understand the set of rules that governs Lebanon, it is essential to understand some of the issues stated in the country's Constitution. For a complete translation of the Lebanese Constitution click here.

Lebanese National Anthem
http://www.un.int/wcm/webdav/site/lebanon

The preamble of the Constitution starts by saying that "Lebanon is a sovereign, free, and independent country. It is a final homeland for all its citizens. It is unified in its territory, people, and institutions within the boundaries defined in this constitution and recognized internationally." It defines its government as "parliamentary democratic republic based on respect for public liberties, especially the freedom of opinion and belief, and respect for social justice and equality of rights and duties among all citizens without discrimination."


The Constitution is divided in 7 parts from A to G. Part B, regarding "powers" is itself dived into sections, the first being "The President of the Republic", the second regarding "The Prime Minister", and the third "The Council of Ministers".


According the The Constitution, "The President of the Republic is the bead of the state and the symbol of the nation's unity. He shall safeguard the constitution and Lebanon's independence, unity, and territorial integrity." The President rules for six years.

Now, the role of the Prime Minister of Lebanon is to be the "Head of Government and its representative. He speaks in its name and is responsible for executing the general policy that is set by the Council of Ministers."


The elections in Lebanon are indirect and the President can only serve one term. To understand more about the Lebanese electoral system this is a good link.


Regarding education in Lebanon, the state provides its citizens with Public Education.

Lebanese school children

Women's right is granted in Lebanon but not always is it followed by its citizens. For example, only 17 women in total have served in the Lebanese Parliament. why? According to Human's Right Watch (HRW) "The reasons are complicated but male domination of the country's politics is one major reason. Another is that political parties are focused on sectarian interests, marginalizing women's voices."

Women fighting for their rights

On February 18th CNN released a news story saying that Muslims judges called rape a "marital right". It is currently an issue of Lebanon.

Nature of Government in Lebanon - overview

To talk about the nature of government in a country, I believe it is essential to look back at its history to understand a little better how it got to where it is now. 
Lebanon was originally a part of Greater Syria and under the rule of France in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1920 when Britain and France made a Partiton of arab the speaking countries in the Ottoman empire. Lebanon wanted to have independence no matter what, so they created their own government at the time and tried to split themselves from the Greater Syria. 
France did not like the idea one bit, so they arrested the new Lebanese government and only released it a few years later due to international political pressure. The French accepted their independence in 1943 but only removed their troops in 1946. 

Lebanon consisted of two dominant religions at the time. The CHristians and the Muslims. These two groups came into an agreement that the President of Lebanon would be a Christian while the Prime Minister would be a Muslim. 
One of the first conflicts was regarding religion due to Nassar's radicalization of the Arabs throughout the Middle East. The conflict consisted of Muslims wanting to take the christians out of power. Even though the conflict was short lived and they had help from the US to settle the civil war in Lebanon, it was a headway into other future conflicts. 

Historian Mitchell Bard says that "The final straw in the feud occurred on April 13, 1975, when a bus carrying a group of Palestinian terrorists was attacked by the Christian Phalangists, who had been at odds with the Palestinians". The cycle of violence quickly escalated to a civil war with Christians fighting the Palestinian and Muslim forces."Syria then saw an opportunity to "swallow" its neighbor by siding with the Muslims. So, regarding it's government  Lebanon is hardly seen as independent due to the fact that it is under the Syrian government. 

Confessional System

Image Source: http://www.anigalla.net/70mm/post/Lebanon-Elections-and-Results-2009-Lebanon-Election-Results-Exit-Poll-Results.aspx

According to the Middle East expert historian, Bard, "on September 2, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1559 declaring its support for a free and fair presidential election in Lebanon, conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules, devised without foreign interference or influence.

Nowadays Lebanon is still considered a republic and its president is Michel Suleiman a Catholic from an independent party. The Prime minister is Najib Mikati, a Muslim. 

Prime Minister Najib Mikati

President Michel Suleiman

Sources used:

Bard, Mitchell. "Modern Lebanon." The Jewish Virtual Library. N.p., 2008. Web. 08 Mar. 2013.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAj-S73deUs