The Future of Lebanon remains uncertain

Where are we going next?

With the departure of President Micheal Aon, Lebanon’s future looks uncertain. Despite its many shortcomings, the Aon period resembled a “chaotic stability”. During his tenure, Lebanon had a complicated but stable status quo.

Aon’s lack of stance against Hezbollah can be looked at as cowardness, or as an attempt to maintain some form of stability. Hezbollah gained both military and political power during Aon’s term and has gained social influence as well, the shortcomings of which fall on Hezbollah’s own mistakes rather than that of Aon’s attempts to undermine the Hezb.

Hezbollah enjoyed the freedom of operation, and it has only resorted to violence to achieve its demands on several occasions. This is of course completely unacceptable in the normal run of things, but Aon was aware of the power of Hezbollah that outmatches that of the military (absurd) and realized that standing against Hezbollah will lead Lebanon into a slippery slope towards another civil war.

Now that Aon is gone, the new president will have to decide in which way he will operate: alongside Hezbollah or against it. The decision is critical as the future of Lebanon hangs in the balance. The economy is collapsing, the people of Lebanon have already lost faith in the political system and nearly all the current politicians, and while the country is split between support and standing up to Hezbollah, the future of Lebanon seems to be heading toward complete collapse.