A blog by someone new to blogging, set in Beirut, by someone new to Beirut.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Playing the Waiting Game

Since my last post, Beirut has remained fairly tense. People are still out and about, but bars, clubs and restaurants haven't been as full as normal, and as far as I can make out, no progress has been reached between the government and opposition to resolve the deadlock. February 14 - the second anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination - is just round the corner and although there may not be any trouble on the day itself (at least none sanctioned by the political parties), violence may well break out afterwards.

Aside from the usual political fighting, Feb 14 has potential to lead to trouble for this reason: Hariri is buried in Martyr's Square (in the Mosque he built - a truly spectacular building). The demonstrators (opposition) are camped in Martyrs' Square. Hariri's supporters (pro-government) will want to go to Martyrs' Square to pay their respects/antagonise the campers (these interpretations depend on who you support). I cannot see how this can happen without some scuffles breaking out on the day, and then more trouble occuring later on in the week. Apparently various people are trying to resolve all this (mainly Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Arab League - Lebanese politicians appear to be too busy calling each other names in the media) but it really is going to the wire here.

And running alongside all of this are incidents like Israel and the Lebanese Army exchanging fire on the border last week and a truckload of weapons for Hezbollah being intercepted in the Bekaa on Thursday. In a statement that would be hilarious were it not for the gravity of the current situation, Hezbollah issued a statement that basically said "yes those are our weapons... and can we have them back please"!!!

And in personal news, I am definitely getting better at skiing - I even looked a bit swish as I carved up a red run today - even if I say so myself!! The weather has been glorious and we also went skiing on Friday - a holiday for us as it was St Maroon's Day. And Friday also saw our first visit to Crysal - the nightclub in Beirut. As an indication of how quiet it is here, we were able to walk straight in to the club without any reservation (you have to in Beirut) and get a table. And it was a really good night! Lots of young, beautiful people, engagement parties and an old man sitting in a corner nursing a bottle of whisky!