Lebanon Needs Urgent Help, Analysts Say

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  By Dale Gavlak - voanews.com -- - The International Monetary Fund says Lebanon won’t pull itself out of its economic crisis until a new government is formed to start long-stalled reforms. But Lebanese analysts say they are being held hostage by a corrupt political class and need outside help to break the logjam to create conditions that bring the country back from the brink. One suggestion is to set up a temporary United Nations trusteeship council for Lebanon to get the country back on its feet. By defaulting on its $1.2 billion Eurobond debt last year, Lebanon’s currency crashed and its economy shrank by 25 percent. Jihad Azour, head of the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East department told Reuters that addressing Lebanon’s dire economic crisis now “requires a comprehensive approach” with multiple financial and governance reforms. He warned that “in (the) absence of a new government that can lead this transformation, it’s very difficult to expect that the situation will in itself improve.”

But Professor Habib Malik of the Lebanese American University told VOA that the Lebanese people are caught in a vice between the political warlords and the de-facto power, the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. “The rest of the world has pretty much taken the position: Form a government, start implementing reforms and then we’re going to help," Malik said. "That’s like telling the fox, ‘We’re going to put you in charge of the chicken coop and once you take care of the chickens, we’ll come and help.’ These people will not implement any reforms that will in any way diminish their theft, power and control. Second is, ‘You, Lebanese have to deal with Hezbollah on your own.’ That’s like telling the hostage with a gun to his head: ‘You have to free yourself from your captor and then we’ll come and help you.’ That never happens in a hostage situation either.” Economist Toufic Gaspard, a former senior advisor to the Lebanese finance minister and to the IMF said he doesn’t see the resumption of economic growth for Lebanon without financial and fiscal cleanup. "Therein lies the problem because the political system is one of sharing of spoils, not increasing the spoils. So, when there would be fiscal or financial reform, whatever it is, they are going to come up against the problem of this political system that the authorities are more interested in sharing the spoils than anything else," Gaspard said.

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Lebanon PM approves expansion of area claimed in maritime dispute with Israel

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BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Monday approved a draft decree expanding the country’s claims in a dispute with Israel over their maritime border that has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich area. Hassan Diab signed off on the document after both the minister of public works and the minister of defense earlier agreed to it. The amendment would add around 1,400 square km (540 square miles) to the exclusive economic zone claimed by Lebanon in its original submission to the United Nations. The draft decree relating to the amendment of the initial decree 6433 of 2011 has now been referred to the presidency for approval ahead of a request to the United Nations for a formal claim to register the new coordinates for the maritime zone.

Negotiations between old foes Lebanon and Israel were launched in October to try to resolve the dispute, yet the talks, a culmination of three years of diplomacy by the United States, have since stalled. “I expect it (the decree) will be signed as everyone, the minister of defence and the prime minister and the president, are concerned about this,” minister of public works Michel Najjar told a news conference earlier on Monday. Israel already pumps gas from huge offshore fields but Lebanon has yet to find commercial gas reserves in its own waters. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Lebanon’s latest move would derail the talks rather than help work towards a common solution. “Unilateral Lebanese measures will, of course, be answered with parallel measures by Israel,” he said in a statement.Lebanon, in the throes of a deep financial meltdown that is threatening its stability, is desperate for cash as it faces the worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. “We will not give up any inch of our homeland or a drop of its waters or an inch of its dignity,” Najjar said.

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President Suleiman: برحيل العلامة السيد محمد حسن الأمين يخسر لبنان قامة وطنية

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برحيل العلامة السيد محمد حسن الأمين يخسر لبنان قامة وطنية عُرفت بنقاوة فكرها وانفتاحها

تعازينا لعائلته الكريمة ولكل من عرفه ونهل من فكره المتنور

Why Lebanon is keeping mum on Syria’s contentious oil exploration contracts

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By DAVID ROMANO AND NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- MISSOURI, USA/ BEIRUT: Syria has signed a four-year oil and gas exploration deal with a Russian company in Mediterranean waters that Lebanon claims as its own. The two blocks to be explored under the new contract overlap with Lebanese maritime areas for energy exploration along the country’s northern border. Yet Lebanese outrage has been conspicuous by its absence. Now imagine a time, not so long ago, when the shoe was on the other foot. Lebanon demarcated its maritime borders in 2011 and, three years later, offered tenders for oil and gas companies for Block No.1 in the north. Justifiably or not, Syria responded by not recognizing the Lebanese demarcation and lodging a protest. The striking contrast between the two reactions, separated by seven years, was not lost on the Lebanese opposition. “Where do the official Lebanese authorities stand on this issue?” asked Rola Tabsh, an MP from the Future Movement bloc, when Syria announced the contract last month. “What is this suspicious coma? We waited for the violation from the south, from the enemy (Israel), but it came from the north, from a brotherly country.”

Similar concern was voiced by Richard Kouyoumjian, former minister and serving member of the Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc, who said: “The government and the relevant ministries are required to have a sovereign position and clear clarification.” He called for the “resumption of demarcation negotiations in the south, an end to Syrian complicity and plundering of our money and oil wealth.” In the south, Israel’s demarcation line conflicts with the Lebanese one, which has led to protracted indirect negotiations sponsored by the UN and mediated by the US. The Lebanese-Israeli dispute and negotiations have been ongoing for more than 10 years now. Hezbollah, being a pro-Iranian Shiite militia and political party, did not appear in favor of even indirect negotiations with Israel over the issue, but grudgingly acceded to them. A resolution to the maritime border dispute with Israel remains crucial to Lebanon’s ability to attract oil and gas companies to its waters.

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President Michel Suleiman: حرية التعبير مقدسة

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حرية التعبير مقدسة ولكن الاعتداء على حرمة المنزل  والملكية الفردية غير جائز
كل التقدير للفنان اسعد رشدان

Let us rebuild Beirut's port in less than three years, says France's CMA CGM

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PARIS (Reuters) - French container shipping group CMA CGM is pursuing a plan to rebuild Beirut’s port within three years, despite political deadlock in Lebanon that has prevented decisions on the port since a blast last August, a company executive said. A chemical explosion at the port killed 200 people and destroyed entire neighbourhoods, deepening Lebanon’s worst political and economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. CMA CGM’s plan, first outlined to Lebanese authorities in September, envisages the reconstruction of damaged docks and warehouses, along with port expansion and digitalisation, at a total cost estimated at $400 million to $600 million, Joe Dakkak, general manager CMA CGM Lebanon, said on Saturday. “Our offer remains on the table,” he told Reuters. “Our project is a realistic one because the situation is urgent.”

On Friday, German companies presented a separate multi-billion-dollar plan to rebuild Beirut’s port and neighbouring districts, confirming a previous report by Reuters. Dakkak said the German initiative was more focused on longer-term real-estate development but CMA CGM would be willing to contribute to the port part of that project if invited to. CMA CGM is controlled by the French-Lebanese Saade family and the group joined French President Emmanuel Macron in relief efforts in Beirut following the explosion last summer. Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Pravin Char Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.