Report: French-Saudi Deal to Exclude Miqati from Premiership

Miqati isn't that bad of PM--he was dealt a bunch of spoiled children with Aoun's block and had to deal with infighting between FPM, Amal and HA and done his best. For being such a one sided cabinet, it was really effective at doing next to nothing.

I also have a problem with other countries deciding who will be the PM--let the lebanese decide? I am also against Hariri as PM--he doesn't have the experience to deal with political matters and is relying on the memory of his father. Sorry, legacy means a little, but it shouldn't count as the only basis. I wouldn't be against Miqati returning with ministers from all sides included--the current ones haven't done squat though and should be replaced.

Doesn't matter who is the PM will be. Lebanon will always be dependent on outside interference. Good luck fighting it out.

Bunch of idiots. Dont bring us back Hariri, let him stay there.
PM Mikati is a centrist, consensual, balanced PM. and thats what we need.

Hariri is only a puppet of Saudi Arabia and USA.

mikati broke every promise he gave internally and internationally, and this is why no one will support him coming back.
he is a personal friend to bashar assad and protected all the syrian regime and iran doing in Lebanon. in spite of that, they did not request him to leavve till the execution of wisam el hasan.
Lebanon needs to be neutral towards what is happening in the region otherwise it will explode.
iran and the syrian regime are using Lebanon as a post office, and that has to stop.
we are not here to have our country destroyed for the benefit of such regimes.

Now everyone decide for Lebanon politic but not lebaneses, NIceeee

Saniora should be the PM not hariri.

Miqati willingly headed a government formed by a criminal regime and a criminal organization providing cover and legitimacy to both. He has lost any credibility with the Cedar Revolution crowd. Nonetheless, it is not for France and Saudi Arabia to decide who Lebanon next prime minister should be. GS strongly believe it should be a technocrat government headed by a decent politician outside M14/M8 with a clear set of political (demarcate and protect borders), economic, social, reform, modernization, maritime resources, and development policies to implement in a well defined timetable signed on by all parties.

The killers of Al hassan are in the cabinet, bashar and his thugs in lebanon are two faces to the same coin, the killers of hariri are still out there in lebanon and possibly were involved in killing al hassan. Charl ayoub, michelle aoun, jamil sayed, etc were openly threatening Al hassan with death. Sooner or later you will see revenges in lebanon iraqi style, it is really a matter of time.

1) he accepted to do so in order to get leb out of deadlock.
he is a consensual PM, and everything else fails if u have such a divided society.

2) the cedar revolution is not doing well. it didnt look anything like cedar or revolution on the sunday following the assassination. it looked like the salafist/qaida and cons. revolution. i am not like the others on this chat to always talk abt salafist/qaida, but this time around i did. u shld be blind not to see that.

3) mikati is neither 8 nor 14. he can and should head a unity gvt. he is a centrist and has experience.

i guess aoun had no balls when he asked the USA for their help a few years ago...he even said there were no shame in that...so do not blame others for what you did and still do....

zadig, iam with you with most of the major points you talked about, but i disagree with you on one.
previously march 14 told shaheed Gebran Tueini to come back to Lebanon if he loves his country, he came back and was murdered the next day.
Recently I personally saw a dejavu, shaheed Wissam al Hassan came to Lebanon and also was murdered the next day. I dont think us as Lebanese people should put any indirect pressure on polititians that are threatened, specially the ones from March 14, including Harriri that is highly threatened. I think if Harriri comes back to Lebanon he will be murdered, and i dont think Lebanon needs this at the moment or at any point in time.

@peace: Slight difference: Aoun did it against the Syrians when they were in Lebanon, unlike the M14ers who are doing it against their own countrymen. So weak and irresponsible. This would not even pass in other countries. Again we show how pathetic we are

Get your sources checked-out as this was certaonly not agreed on. The French are working on a huge military deal with Saudi Arabia! Parallel to this they will also support the LAF. That said, they couldn;t give 2 shoots wether or not Miqati stays. The French do NOT want Hariri in power nor do they want any Saudi affiliated puppet as they see that this person is supporting the Salafists in Lebanon. The French are against the Salafist gaining ANY upper hand in ANY area in Lebanon...especially any threat against the LAF.

We have reached the lowest of the low in (no) dignity when a foreign leader can say that a certain Lebanese is 'unacceptable' to us!!
They have to accept whomever we vote into the Serail!! This is politics ala Arab Gulf way..as if the Syrian method was not bad enough..now we need to import the Arab patronage system when one has to kiss the hand of a king in a tent?? Shame on Lebanon, and shame on the Lebanese!!

Phoenix, I disagree. There are divisions in each and every DEMOCRATIC country. Differences in ideas are discussed within state institutions. Our situation is pathetic, we simply neither deserve independence nor democracy. 2 options no third. either a military dictatorship that runs the country allowing the Lebanese to prosper economically or occupation by a large and powerful country for the next 50 years, preparing Lebanon for independence. The French failed miserably 1918 - 1945 .. Syria too maybe we should be run by the UN as east Timor was for a while..

Ya man, every Lebanese Politician is Sponsored by evil to do EVIL in his country!!
God bless them.

Thumbs Up to that... at a time I wanted Hariri but now, no ... Not really... But Who??? I don't Know I don't trust anyone...
I wish the M8 Thugs and sheep could have an open mind and Question the Qualifications of there leaders... Nope they were brain washed to believe there leaders no matter what!!!

my comment is about how the west perceives mikati.

C'est nous qui décidons de nos Politiciens!
We decide ours politicians, in spite of our rivalry!

men 2iyem l mamlouk lal 3esmanli la Lyom, 3atoul el douwal l kharijiyi btedakhal bi shou2ouna l dekhiliyi w bteshteghil la 7atta ne3la2 ma ba3ed to serve their own interest! as an example : the bloodbath of 1860!

Lezim ba2a nefham hal shi, w netwa7ad w net3ala 3an l khilef l dekhili!

7ata law inta bi 14 2azar lezim terfod l tadakhol metel heda l tadakhol bel 2awda3 l lebneniyi!! ainsi on renforce notre convivialité!

From an outsider looking in, I have just one question to ask.
How on earth do you expect a free, viable, united and democratic Lebanon, when any two political leaders are unable to sit down and talk virtually without trying to kill each other?

Agree that it should be up to the Lebanese. But the Lebanese are so divided and cannot agree on anything. It's a never ending story, with external power having to help us solve our problems. As for Saad, your judgement are too hard. When he was PM he had the courage to extend his hand to everyone, even the Syrians. He might not have been as strong as needed, but the job is overwhelmingly difficult especially with the evolvement of Syria and Iran.

No one is saying that M14 are independent from foreign influence. Actually they definitely seek the active support of countries such as the US, France and Saudi as M8 is supported by tyrannic, dictatorship, terrorist countries i.e. Syria and Iran.

1- Hollande has no business putting vetoes on any lebanese leaders. Let him fix the mess he is creating in France.
2- Mikati saved the country from certain chaos during the past 2 years despite all the difficulties his allies (aoun and HA) and his competitors (Hariri) put for him. I consider him a SAVIOR for lebanon.
3- The only sunnite leader with popularity that can compete against Hariri is Mikati. This is why hariri hates him so much. Because he makes Hariri look irrelevant.
4- M14 were heroes 4 years ago. Today, with their extremism and lack of vision and leadership, they became even worse than M8. Our only option is the centrists.

I beg to differ: knowing these fcts, he accepted to be appointed by hizbushaitan, to a psecific use: do what the syrian regime wanted him to do, i.e. support them.
do you really believe mansour wwas acting on his own? that would be really naive....

Mossad empire killed rafik hariri and al wissam, look at the clear article for rafik hariri killers, the method they killed hariri in, the special bomb to do this melted rafik hariri's watch and not his tshirt, look at the images. Also the bomb was only available to a few countries including Germany.. Lebanese need to stop thinking Bashar al assad is to blame, we have a main enemy which is Israel.

March 14, long live Lebanon First, my compatriots and my only hope for a real Lebanon First. Keep up the good work in conjunction with the French, the British, the Saudis, the Qataris and the Americans, all fighters for Lebanon First and active members of Lebanon First. Believe me, my friends of March 4, with all of these, Lebanon First becomes a reality! God bless you, truthful warriors.

As much as I hate the idea of that decision, but was was wronged should be done right, and the mini coup d'etat to get rid of Hariri, should be leveled by getting rid of Miqati and specifically the decision makers that brought him in.
Any nomination now would be for less than 8 month ( till next elections ) and anybody will do as long as they stick purely to a centrist and union position.

Geha. I agree our biggest threat is the syrian iranian axis.
But you cant fight this axis by refusing to talk to your copatriots.
As Zadig said, Mikati is a seasoned businessman who has the maturity to run a country. He proved it in the previous period. Mikati (with suleiman and Jumblat) created a "center" axis that rid us of the ugly M8 M14 dichotomy we were stuck with.
Hariri is trying to fight the Iran syria axis by fighting the centrists (which is an approach which will lead nowhere, but ruin lebanon).
To fight the iran syria axis, you need to REINFORCE the centrists. Not fight them. But hariri is too self centered to see that.
Zadig. 100% agree with you.

Why are the French and Saudi's determining who they include and exclude as our PM? Isn't that the task of the Lebanese people?

From the time I was born, Lebanon has been a battle field. As long as we live counting on our sect and protecting it, we're all gonna be indifferent from one another. The only solution left for this country has become a dream....

P.S: Bye Bye Budha Bar

NEW names. new names new names.

only to show that they exist:

Doumianos Khattar, Riad Salemeh, Ziad Baroud, and a huge multitude of lebanese scientists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, and business men in the diaspora

where are they? why do they not call MTV, LBC, NewTV (forget about future and manar and OTV hate TVs)
why do they not get public recognition? why do they not show themselves in order for the people to know who they are, and break the cycles of all our obsolete "leaders" ?

Frankly i would much rather have france decide our politics than khamen`e

Oh I love the fact how when these kind of news show up M8 and their mouth peices go on the offensive of how M14 actions are being dictated by KSA and France... well ummm where are your moves coming from? I don't know ask Samaha he knows for sure.

Also, I would rather support people that would work diplomatically to over throw a Prime Minister or a political figure instead of blowing up his envoy and killing him. But that's just me.

Syria is falling apart.....this is the begining of the aftermath of the ASSad regime. M8 and the Shia murder axis can't make the leap as they are living in the past. ASSad is gone.....Miqati is done, Iran's fingers are being chopped, the Hezz will be a problem that will be dealt with by Syria in the next round....perhaps not Israel.

Lebanon needs a clean sweep of its politicians, implementation of a democratic governance that introduces equality in health care, education and assistance for its elderly citizens who have put enormous pressure on their children who have moved abroad.

A woman to run Lebanon, I wish but the reality is she would never be taken seriously then she would get caught up in the high life eventually, lunches, dinners, expensive clothes and holidays, a number of Sri lankin maids and don't forget a car for each day to park outside her villas. Yes Lebanese are materialistic and once pockets are lined forget the poor

The bottom line is that the present government is controlled by suspects in a number of murders and assassinations. The dialogue should be centered around HA and his involvement in all that has been attributed to this organization. HA are branded as a terrorist organization by a number of Western and Arab countries. They should not be allowed to bear arms let alone hold office and control the Lebanese government.

Naharnet why did u censor my two other posts, does the truth about Lebanon offend?