And so after much political tomfoolery and sleight of hand, Hariri is out and Karami is in. His first task was the creation of a cabinet that turned out to be comprised of vehement anti-government types, many of whom had given up on ever holding public office, and the usual pro-Syrian lackeys. And now that President Lahoud has purged all internal opposition, he has no excuse for any political and economic shortcomings that may develop over the coming seven months. We do not know what to expect in terms of the economy, given that the criteria for selecting the new team appeared to be based more on political expediency than a genuine desire to address Lebanon’s economic woes. This is underlined by Karami’s warning not to expect miracles. If this was meant to offer hope, one dreads to think what he will say when things get rougher; and they will.
