Not Everything Can be Planned

Flower Power

The rapid progress of the Red and White Revolution seems to have caught the Opposition Leaders by surprise. BBC Reports:

'Common strategy'

The leaders of the various opposition groups have begun talks on how to react to the ongoing political crisis.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in the Lebanese capital Beirut says they will be trying to work out a common strategy towards the formation of new government.

So far, the calls have been for a neutral administration to run Lebanon before parliamentary elections scheduled for May.

But there has been no decision on whether the opposition - made up of Druze and Christian MPs as well as Sunni Muslims connected to Mr Hariri - would take part in such an administration, particularly if Mr Lahoud remains president.

Of course the big question now is how does the opposition interact with the Shiite population. We have already seen in Iraq the emergence of a national feeling that transcends tribal and sectarian differences. There is good reason to hope that a similar nationalism will be forged out of the Red and White movement. Let us hope so.