To Your Corners

So, pro-government Lebanese Parliamentarians have been voting with their feet and fleeing the country since Eido's assassination. This was the impression that I got, too, when trying to track down MPs down for information on what sort of man Eido had been immediately following the assassination. Since I doubt that most MPs have the resources to provide themselves with top-notch security, I can hardly blame them. But it does exacerbate an already-serious breakdown in communication between March 8th and March 14th.

Hassan Nasrallah moves around Lebanon like a ghost, listening for the hum of approaching Israeli warplanes. Berri sits in his compound near Verdun, and Aoun -- well, who cares what Aoun does. Siniora appears to only leave the Grand Serail when he flies to Paris, Hariri must be starting to see Qoreitem as a prison instead of a palace, and I don't think Walid Jumblatt is going to be taking any vacations in Damascus soon. Anti-government lawmakers can't go to America, and pro-government lawmakers can't stay in Beirut.

I can't say that I blame any of these politicians for hunkering down in their bunkers. However, the fact is that this isolation results in the widening of the gap between the two factions. Their only meetings are carefully scripted negotiation sessions. Other than that, they are cooped up with partisans of their own side. They all say that they are attempting to bridge the gap between the factions, but their increased isolation turns those divisions into a self-fulfilling prophecy.