As the world digests, in some cases with surprise, the fact that US President Barack Obama is now a Nobel Peace Laureate, the man himself now has to go about proving that he is worthy of the mantle. It would be a shame for his legacy as a so-called peacemaker to be met with the same ridicule often handed out to Shimon Peres, who won the prize in 1994, but who subsequently did little to realize any potential.
Some have suggested that it was Obama’s election, not as the first black US president, but as a man committed to ending the eight years of war in Afghanistan and later Iraq, wars triggered by the 9/11 attacks, that won him the award. These are noble ambitions that, if achieved, are sure to gladden the hearts of nations regularly who repatriate the remains of the young men sent to fight in those two countries.
Indeed, reaction to Obama’s bid to get a grip on the Iraq file – and the dawning realization that Iran might be allowed to make a nuclear device after all – took place last week when Saudi Arabian King Abdullah traveled to Damascus to meet his Syrian counterpart, President Bashar al-Assad, in what may prove to be a crucial summit and the first talks on what is expected to be a new dynamic in the Middle East. Both countries have shared interests in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Yemen and of course Lebanon.
Yes, little old Lebanon, itself a mini-file somewhere in the state department and a country that could be so easily “sacrificed” in return for rolling out a new regional order to stand up to a nuclear Iran. Lebanon no doubt has the outward appearance of being a thriving and democratic entrepot, but the reality will see it once again in the thrall of Syrian influence with little or no social and political reform.
Maybe it is too much to ask for anything else. Maybe the reality of global realpolitik is such that something has to give if the goals of the bigger picture are to be achieved. Maybe Lebanon is just too small and too fractured to be a permanent priority.
One only has to listen to US Principal Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and former Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman give his opinion on the talks in Damascus on the U.S-sponsored Al-Hurra TV network to see that the US is hardly going out on a limb for us. “We hope that Lebanese leaders consider forming the government as soon as possible in conjunction with the Lebanese Constitution and the June 7 election results.”
President Obama, if you happen, in an idle moment of web browsing and in an “I wonder what happened to Lebanon,” to fall upon these words, spare a thought for the people in the little picture. For nearly five years, pro-democracy and pro-sovereignty campaigners have fought – and in some cases died – to tie up the last loose ends of what your predecessor, President Bush, called the Cedar Revolution. Lebanon was important back then; our telegenic youth made good TV, and we were promised that in any future regional negotiations Lebanon would not be on the table.
We have not been told otherwise, but there is a sneaking suspicion things might have changed. NOW Lebanon wishes you every success President Obama in justifying your prize. Here in Lebanon, we will judge you by a different set of criteria. The devil, as they say, is in the details.