Stop squandering the future of Lebanese children!

Lebanese “competent” Parliamentarians met and decided to buy water from Turkey?!

Three years ago they met and approved renting power generating Turkish vessels at a cost that could cover the building of new power plants. The result was no change in power supply, the whole country still suffers from the same never ending power cuts on daily basis, three hours a day in the best scenario!

And all of these lavish spending is financed by borrowing at stiff interest rates.

Excuse me if I say “ :0 oh my God”

Lebanon is one of the few countries in the Middle East that has water resources that exceed its needs; many streams and two major rivers with one of them that springs on its territory and pours into the sea on its own shores; in addition one of its peaks has a glacier of sort.

The reason for the actual water shortage suffered in many cities is supposedly due to the low rain levels this year. But last year rain was abundant so it is not a trend, rather a one year problem. And by the way, Turkey suffered the same low rain levels this year, so why can they sell Lebanon water?

The answer is again, incompetence in managing the resources, planning, and improving the infrastructure. Our public administration is in dire need of strategic planning capacity building rather than wage increase of 120% as is actually lobbied for.

This said, the Lebanese population on individual level are solving their water shortage problem by buying water. Yes, a new industry is born. Water tanks crisscross the roads of the capital and small towns pumping water into the tanks of building and houses. The price for a big tank is $100 translating into an average of $10 per week or two weeks, depending on your consumption.

So the population is solving its problem by buying water from Lebanese businesses, increasing the money supply or circulation and generating informal employment for many.

What the government is now proposing is to take this business to Turkey to boost Turkish economy and place on each citizen and child in this country a debt whose servicing goes way beyond what they are paying for solving the same water shortage problem!

Stop! squandering our resources by borrowing and borrowing without a strategy on how to face this burgeoning debt in the future!

Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book "Hard Choices," depressed me

Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book, "Hard Choices," is many things. At its most basic, it's an autobiography, but it's also, no doubt, some kind of campaign manifesto (Clinton's 2016 run is now looking like more and more inevitable).
I will never be a voter in US election but I did not like what I read.

Clinton calls the Israeli prime minister a "complicated figure," who is "deeply sceptical" of the Oslo Accords and "understandably fixated" on the threat posed to Israel by Iran. She writes that she and Netanyahu "argued frequently," but worked together as "partners and friends."
Then she goes on to say about the person who took the courageous decision to shake hand with Rabin and make the Oslo Accords "I sometimes thought that while Arafat had the circumstances required to make peace but not the will” missing that it was Israeli’s who assassinated Rabin and then undermined the Oslo Peace Accords.

Clinton, distancing herself from some aspects of the Obama administration’s handling of the Arab Spring, says that she pushed for Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to transition power to his successor but was overruled by President Barack Obama. She says she didn’t want the U.S. to be seen as pushing a long-time partner out without a clear picture of the future for regional allies such as Israel.
On Egypt too Clinton points out that the ousted Egyptian president (Mursi) had a number of bad moments, such as his clashes with the judiciary, poor economic track record, and an apparent refusal to stop religious persecution. However, she adds that some things he did – like keeping the peace deal with Israel and negotiating for a ceasefire in Gaza – were clearly positive.

Shows how Middle East events are viewed from the skewed perspective of Israel's interest with a complete disregard for the will of the Arab people or their right to democratic and fair governments.
But then her opponents for the White House do not differ a lot as to Foreign Policy. Left and Right seem to agree on considering Arab a sort of sub human species whose genes do not correspond to the ideals of democracy.

What I wrote may seem extreme, but after so many years of hope to no avail for democracy to prevail in this part of the world, depression is setting in.