Between a sovereign president and a president who does not betray the resistance or follow the embassies, there are unrealistic and burdensome conditions with the slogan "Lebanonization of the Lebanese entitlement." Both sides launch claims to portray their good intentions to elect a president who prioritizes Lebanon's interests above all personal considerations, away from external interests favoring this axis or that. Alas, what sovereignty are we discussing while each side awaits a position heralding relief or a code word from foreign decision-making capitals? Is sovereignty represented by humanitarian aid as we have turned into "beggars" at the doors of the world's rich and poor countries, or is sovereignty represented by the traders of political stances in exchange for "bags of money" in favor of an Iranian axis or an American axis, disregarding a country called "Lebanon" or the interests of an oppressed people whose daily sustenance has become a luxury in an era where other countries have reached space, while Lebanon has lost its special and pioneering role in the region?
It is idealistic politics to sing praises about the importance of dialogue, which, even if held, will not be fruitful under the insistence of some political factions on their opinions and interests, except as a means to ventilate the tensions to prevent strife. How wronged we feel as a people living in the lack of a state of institutions and law when the "foreign secret word" remains a standard for easing political and economic crises in the country. A question arises in all our minds: Have you heard any political leader or even an ordinary citizen affiliated with this or that leader blame their political team for its policy of the state’s resource sharing and power division that has led to the fragmentation and exhaustion of institutions? We have reached a point where we are unable to secure a subsidized loaf of bread.
Do you hear the pulse of the streets moaning under the weight of poverty and need, as most families now rely on remittances from abroad? This year, remittances from expatriates have reached $6.8 billion, the only support for Lebanese people after their homeland's name has become associated with impoverished, corrupt, and collapsed countries like Somalia, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. What image have you left us of Lebanon after we have been scattered across the capitals of the world that now views the Lebanese as "paupers" fleeing their homeland and willing to accept the lowest salaries, regardless of their qualifications and degrees, after they have been failed by the birth circumstances in their homeland?
It is clear and certain that there is no way to rescue Lebanon from the presidential vacancy except through all parties abandoning their resounding slogans filled with self-serving narrow interests or the interests of their foreign axes that use them as fuel for their projects and objectives, away from Lebanon's and its people's interests. The solution rests on genuine and serious dialogue within Lebanon for the election of a neutral president who does not belong to this axis or that. There are many names in Lebanon, as waiting for an external settlement has its consequences for a country that can no longer bear more collapse.
