Monday, January 30, 2006

Lebananese public opinion survey: view of the US. 50.4% of Lebanese people consider the US role in Lebanon as [undesirable] guardianship* over Lebanon, while 38.2% view it as support for Lebanon. And 40% of the Lebanese surveyed consider Jumblat's attacks on Hizbullah to be in the interest of Lebanon, while 60% disagreed. And 31.1% of support actions to overthrow the Syrian regime, while 68.9% disagreed. Looking into the sectarian details of the survey, the attitudes of the Sunnis are quite interesting, and contrary to what is being projected by Hariri Inc. Druzes and Christians seem to be converging in their foreign policy views; but the Sunnis seem to be in disagreement with Jumblat (and his Hariri allies) in the attitude toward Hizbullah and the evaluation of the US role, and the role of Jumblat. That could possibly explain the silence of Jumblat in recent days. This plus Saudi order that he be silenced as was reported yesterday in the column by Niqula Nasif in AnNahar.
*The word in question is wisayah, which in the Lebanese political context is best translated as undesirable guardianship.