Of course a unity government has been raised with Hariri. Of course Hariri and Bassil will reconcile. We now begin bargaining over a new gov’t that may last 3-4 months, at the heart of which is Bassil’s effort to secure Hariri support for his presidency: naharnet.com/stories/en/273…
In exchange for which Hariri will try to get Bassil’s concessions on the electricity front so that a new Hariri government can begin talks in earnest with the IMF. An IMF deal is absolutely inherent to the political class’ efforts to revive itself.
Therefore, I predict the political class will use privatization of state assets to renew its corruption networks, which is why parliament, the banks, and politicians have factored in state assets to reduce Lebanon’s total losses in the dispute with the cabinet over loss figures.
By factoring in state assets in an effort to reduce Lebanon’s total losses, the politicians have opened the door to privatization of these assets. Who will buy state utilities, which technically belong to all Lebanese, other than the politicians and their cronies?
Major concessions on the electricity front, like privatization of costly public utilities, could be welcomed by the IMF as a step forward. This will revive the system, albeit a much poorer system. But the politicians will have reasserted control, their key aim.
The worst thing is that many Lebanese will welcome this because it will bring short-term relief. Hence the politicians’ efforts today to turn public ire against the hapless government and its lamentable PM, who is pandering to Hezbollah to remain in office.
