[BRIEF NOTE] So many friends

[rfmcdonald]

I was taken aback by some paragraphs in this Associated Press article reproduced in The Toronto Star about the selection of Michael Suleiman as president of Lebanon.

Fierce bursts of celebratory gunfire erupted throughout the capital after the parliamentary vote and fireworks filled the night sky.

"I call on you all, political forces and citizens, to build a Lebanon we all agree on, setting the interests of Lebanon above our individual interests," Suleiman told lawmakers and assembled dignitaries in a televised address. "We paid a dear price for our national unity. Let's preserve it."

Present in the parliamentary chamber were officials representing all the major foreign powers that have tried to resolve the crisis, including the foreign ministers of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and France, and a delegation of U.S. lawmakers. All consider Lebanon part of their cultural, economic and political sphere of influence.

With so many countries profoundly interested in the furtherance of their interests in Lebanon (with, admittedly, different countries falling together into one of several groupings), how could Lebanon possibly have a chance?

In possibly related news, since the 2006 Israeli war in Lebanon I think that I've noticed an upsurge in the numbers of Lebanese restaurants in Toronto. I wonder what the immigration statistics look like.