Lahoud To Stay?

Sorry for the lateness of the updates today. I woke up as scheduled but, probably because of a storm last night, the Internet was down. I'm drawing stares in the local cafe because of my hair shirt.

Now that's out of the way, President Lahoud has suggested the possibility of staying with us, even after his term expires! Here's what he has to say: "How am I supposed to hand over the country to a non-existent government?...I will not."

Lahoud was appointed by Syria when they ran things in Lebanon, and his term was already extended in 2004. As a Christian who takes his orders from Syria, he has no true base of support within the Lebanon population. His exit has been eagerly awaited by anti-Syria types; somewhere on the Internet, I remember seeing a live countdown to when Lahoud's Presidential term expires. I remember when my Arabic teacher mentioned that she came from the same village as Lahoud. She gave that rueful, semi-apologetic smile that is common when Arab civilians talk politics with Americans.

If Lahoud stays, it has the potential to radicalize a lot of pro-government people, and turn them against a compromise with Hizbullah and Co. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.