Change and Reform: March 14 Proposal is Meaningless, Aims to Waste Time
The Change and Reform bloc rejected on Tuesday the proposal made by the March 14 alliance over ending the deadlock over the presidency, saying that it “offers nothing new.”
Former Minister Salim Jreissati said after the bloc's weekly meeting: “The initiative is meaningless and is aimed at wasting time.”
Any proposal that does not adhere to Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun's “national initiative is aimed at wasting time,” he added.
The March 14 alliance on Tuesday kept its support for Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea as a presidential candidate, but said it was ready to agree on another consensual candidate.
“Out of its keenness to hold the elections, the March 14 alliance calls for the respect of constitutional deadlines and the rotation of power,” MP Fouad Saniora told reporters minutes after Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned a parliamentary session aimed at electing a president.
The March 14 alliance holds onto the candidacy of Geagea, the lawmaker said but expressed the camp's “full readiness to discuss with the rest of the factions the name of a person who receives the backing of all the Lebanese and who is committed to the country's principles.”
Aoun, who has not declared his candidacy, has repeatedly said that he would be willing to run in the elections if there was consensus over him.
Commenting on the ongoing kidnapping of soldiers and policemen by Islamists, Jreissati said: “Those negotiating with a terrorist organizations should realize that negotiations should be conducted between countries, even if it means dealing with the Syrian government.”
“The main goal remains to release the captives and preserve national dignity,” he stressed.
“There can be no equality between the criminal and the victim,” he added.
“We direct this speech to the families of the captives and the Lebanese people, army and government, which should assume its responsibilities in this affair,” he stated.
“The government should not fall victim to blackmail,” he remarked.
“We reject negotiations between the state and army and between a terrorist organization,” continued the former minister.
“The abductees should be released at the most minimal cost,” he explained, while emphasizing the need to maintain Lebanon's sovereignty.
The soldiers and policemen were kidnapped after clashes between the army and Islamists in the northeastern border town of Arsal in early August.
Some of the captives were released in August, but others remain with the militants.
A Muslim Scholars Committee delegation was tasked with negotiating their release, but it recently suspended its activity to allow for other sides to assume this role.
over 9 years
I reserve judgment until flamethrower gets a chance for one more break of his daily 200th allowance.
over 9 years
of deir al saleeb
over 9 years
I almost laughed, mowaten.... almost
over 9 years
are you still not posting simultaneously with your other 10 accounts?
over 9 years
drew; this mouthpiece just parrots what they feed him to say. If he really understood the FPM proposal and if he is a christian (which nobody believes) he will be the first to reject it.
over 9 years
Is that your answer flamethrower? That the moslem majority should have jumped at the opportunity? It seems they care more about the christian president than the FPM do. Answer the question and stop answering a question with a question.
over 9 years
cut him some slack liberty. He had enough punishment today already.
over 9 years
no, i still haven't fallen as low as you.
over 9 years
blame, blame, deny, deny, and then some more blame.
over 9 years
do you have that on a post-it on your screen so you can remember what to do all day?
over 9 years
this is one of your best comments this month
over 9 years
oh... if you're twice as smart, you'd still be stupid
over 9 years
bombast to cover for their panic at the rising presidential stock of general qahwaji since the arsal attacks as shown by the serial daily attacks on him by assafir and alakhbar
over 9 years
if we negotiate with the Syrian regime, how would that get our soldiers released....? FPM never offer any solutions except undermine any and all efforts.
over 9 years
Everything isil is doing they learned from the syrian baath regime, the only difference is that isil hides behind a false islamic flag while assad hid behind the fake baath arab nationalist ideology. Don't forget bashar brought them to the area to fight the american crusaders in the first place and that zarkawi who planted the seeds of isil came to iraq from iran
over 9 years
roar; answer drew's question or are you clueless..?!
over 9 years
answer the question !!!
over 9 years
This is a classic debate!!!! You will never get an answer, all you will get now is insults and diversions.
over 9 years
please, dedicate one moment of your precious time and answer it.... you have commented 5 times now but not the right answer!
over 9 years
quick drew, take a screen shot of flamethower's incredible answer before it gets deleted
over 9 years
not even hezballah and m8 are supporting aoun's proposal it's nothing but an Eichmann style propaganda ploy
over 9 years
Michel Aouns meaningless proposal is not supported by his allies
over 9 years
Michel Akuns meaningless proposal is not supported by his allies
over 9 years
what about negotiating with countries funders of terrorist groups ,
and make deals like the deal of the liberation of the nuns negotiations was not with Syria but with a terrorist funders country
over 9 years
please dont forget who the soldier in chief whip abandoned his post and his men and ran to the French Embassy for protection... In addition with time he has proven he is a lunatic...
over 9 years
in lebanon some people don;t dare to mention "the illness" by name meaning cancer. hezballah;s never mentioned their supposed presidential nominee they only refer to him as "the candidate", coincidence?
over 9 years
i propose a funnier joke for you the_ro, president michel aoun, Muhaahahahahah it's funny because it's ironic.
over 9 years
ok the_ro i admit it's an old joke ironically i heard it from many aounists back in 2007-08 but it's still funny Muhaahahahahah
over 9 years
Jreissati: Our concept of the state differs from their's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpIGWsTGphU
over 9 years
Any proposal that does not adhere to Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun's “national initiative is aimed at wasting time,” he added.
Joke of the day...Seriously who voted for this guy? Since when was Aoun's proposal a national initiative? Aoun is the only one behind this idea. March 14 outright rejected it, and Hezbollah hasn't even commented on it, in effect rejecting it in silence.
over 9 years
The March 14 alliance holds onto the candidacy of Geagea, the lawmaker said but expressed the camp's “full readiness to discuss with the rest of the factions the name of a person who receives the backing of all the Lebanese and who is committed to the country's principles.”
Even if March 8 says that's nonsense, why can't Aoun at least say he's ready to discuss a compromise candidate? This isn't even about Geagea anymore, it's about Aoun not willing to discuss a candidate other than himself (talk about wasting time).
over 9 years
Spare me the "as long as Geagea is their candidate Aoun's boycotting" nonsense. Because let's define this word candidate, at least in Lebanese terms. Aoun hasn't even been nominated by his own coalition, yet he's dictating the whole process. Candidates don't even exist in Lebanon. With that said Aoun is a "candidate" no less than Geagea. This whole standoff is an insult to civilisation, all because of one man's greed.
over 9 years
Roar, your general's proposal is ludicrous. "Hey let's have a preliminary round of voting for Christians to decide who the candidates are, then everyone can vote in the second round." It disenfranchises Muslims. KSA and Iran are both against it (these outsiders you refer to), because Muslims have no choice as to who the candidates are.
over 9 years
hi nickjames. It is not that the moslems will have no choice as to who the candidates. On the contrary, they will decide who the president will be. Aoun is suggesting a 2 tier system whereby the first round will produce 2 candidates.; Candidate A say with 60% of Christian votes and candidate B say with 40% of the Christian votes. These 2 candidates then will run and the whole nation will vote one of them as President. Who is to say that candidate A who got 60% of the Christian votes in the first round would not end up getting 40% or less of the total national votes while candidate B with 60 % or more since our moslem brothers are the majority in Lebanon. How would that be beneficial to the christians in Lebanon versus a 50-50 electoral base as we have it today. Would the new president then be representative of Christian wishes and sentiment....
over 9 years
EX-FPM bravo and thank you for a great explanation. Aoun is not interested in Christian rights, he is only interested in himself. If Saudi and Iran strike a deal, and the shiiites agree with the sunnis where will michele aoun be and the Christian president for that matter. Selfish calculation at best
over 9 years
theroar your example in flawed. it would be more accurate if you gave the example of a post that is supposed to represent especially black Americans. Using Aoun's proposal the elections are done in two stages, the first stage only black Americans vote. The two top candidates then go on for a run off elections where all Americans elect a winner. The winner that is supposed to represent black Americans is thus elected by the non black majority.
over 9 years
You guys are all wrong. Roar, this proposal shares no similarities with the US whatsoever. Taking your example about Republican vs Democrat, you're just thinking about the general election. You forget that each party has primaries, and the party's voters decide their candidate. So in 2008 it wasn't just John McCain vs Obama. McCain had to win the Republican nomination against Romney and other Republicans, just as Obama had to win the Democrat nomination against Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. The people get to decide who represents their party before the general election even takes place.
So if they used Aoun's proposal, where only Christians could vote in the first round (equivalent to the primaries), perhaps Clinton would have won the Democrats' nomination instead of Obama because Muslims would have been disenfranchised. So they're left to vote between Clinton and Romney, neither of whom they want.
over 9 years
Don't ever try to teach me about American politics. You're a stupid Aouneh who's never been to America.
over 9 years
Clinton and McCain*
Romney was in 2012
over 9 years
Again 200,000 dead in syria with bashar's red roses
Screw u and ur love for dictatorship and loss of self esteem
over 9 years
to blocking the constitutional counsel's quorum
over 9 years
M14 has offered smoke, as in it has offered to withdraw Geagea's candidacy to discuss compromise candidates, whereas Aoun hasn't offered to withdraw his candidacy, he's just coming up with bogus proposals to dance around and cover his I-wanna-be-president agenda. Which economic reforms are you referring to, the one where he boycotted the cabinet formation for three weeks because his son-in-law couldn't control the energy ministry? Where's his solution to the water crisis? Bassil was energy & water minister for three years, and now his Armenian loyalists run it on his behalf. Where are the solutions to retain our water and not let it go out to sea? What's his take on the EDL standoff, as Lebanon has plunged into darkness again? Where's the energy minister's solution?
over 9 years
Bassil was energy & water minister for over four years* sorry
over 9 years
Man nickjames ur comment shows still racism although u nothing said but try to use names and not the way that u said armenian loyalist .
over 9 years
Who better recognize as "meaningless" an initiate, that offers nothing new and is "aimed at wasting time" than the spokesperson for the FPM. They are the masters of this practice and should surely recognize it when they see it.
His recommendation that the Lebanese government should deal directly with the regime of Bashar Assad rather than with the Dae3g to secure the release of hostages captured by Dae3g presumes that the Assad Regime is in communication with Dae3g and that it controls it's actions such that by dealing with Assad, Lebanon would be dealing with the Principal of the Dae3g. I'm sure he did not mean to incriminate the Assad regime with the conduct of its agent the Dae3g, but this he has done.
over 9 years
And following Jdressati's logic of dealing government to government, why does he endorse Hezbollah's dealing with the Assad Regime? If Assad wanted Hezbollah's participation I the Syrian war, according to Jdressati, Assad should have come to the Lebanese Government and sought Hezbollah assistance in its war, but Assad did not, which means that this guy is as unprincipled as any other member of the FPM. All of their policy arguments are situational. What is good for them to do is bad for others since the actions of others do not benefit the FPM.
over 9 years
mr Aoun, pls propose something useful for this country.. u are not better at all from the mustabal/mutabal party..
over 9 years
The worst ever bloc in history of Lebanon ,the other parties we can call on them as thieves maybe criminals of war but this party is the biggest indirect criminal in history of lebanon ,caused the dead of thousands during the war because of missjudgement decesions and immigration of lebanese and since a decade destroying the rest of it ,what a spoiled stupid old freek.
over 9 years
Im not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I'll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. All the best efdadffdcccg
Any proposal that does not adhere to Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun's “national initiative is aimed at wasting time,” he added.
flexibility, acceptance of the other, willingness to engage, and democracy are just a few notions that characterize this hypocritical change and reform travesty.