The Boring Al-Sabhan
Mohammad Nazzal
What does Saudi's Al-Sabhan want from Lebanon? For some time now, he has been threatening to use the "I will show you" style.
He also seems to be in a hurry: "Soon silence will prevail." Well, when exactly? Is it like the "soon" in Yemen? Many in Lebanon are eager to find out "what he can do".
Presuming he was using "Israel" to threaten then it is old and calculated. In that case he is a genuine "armature". If he was using the US to threaten, which is expected, what's new about that? He is very boring. It is good to tell him that in Lebanon there are those who have been bored of him and his kingdom for a long time.
They want something new; that Saudi Arabia does something of itself. To stop the export of "Al Rabie Milk" to Lebanon, for example, or "Lays" potato chips and the likes (even this brand is owned by the American [company] PepsiCo). No one will ask Al-Sabhan's Kingdom, one of the richest countries in the world, to stop exporting cars, planes, ships, power plants and heavy factories, as well as nuclear reactors. Lebanon needs these things. Did it occur to them to stop the export of wheat, for example? This is the knockout blow. The Lebanese will die of starvation!
For some time now, Al-Sabhan, the Saudi minister has been threatening the Lebanese people, saying, "You have to choose between being with the party of Satan or against it." Let's say they chose to be "with" it. They are, at large, with it in reality. But let's say there was a referendum on this, and it proved that the majority is "with", what would the Saudis do then? Will their hordes of armies that failed at the Yemeni border attack Lebanon? Welcome. What are they threatening with?
The Lebanese have tried everything. Everything. Today, they have nothing but more cynicism than those who threaten them with more. Sabhan knows that Lebanon is not a monarchy. There is no king here, no constitution, imposing their vision on everyone. Many in our country will not wait for their Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the various institutions to say to those who publicly threaten its people to shut up or cut diplomatic ties with them. We are in a time where international laws and diplomatic norms have no place.
Here, people can only respond by themselves. They won't ask them to shut up, but rather ask them to carry on with their threats. You can have new things. Any new thing. The only boring thing from you has been killing us for more than two centuries.
Gamal Abdel Nasser saw an "enemy" in you. He saw it before everyone. Anyone who agrees with him in making you an enemy is paying the price today. He knew you well and "Radio Makkah" launched campaigns against him. He ridiculed you: "Radio Mecca comes out and says what is this talk about removing the differences between classes. It is a speech against religion. The poor have paradise." Nasser laughs at this and mocks them. The Al-Saud missed that the poor, apart from paradise, can also laugh at the luxuriant kings and mock them, at one moment even grind their noses with dirt. The house of Saud has not and will not understand the chant "Death to Al-Saud" that can shake the walls of Beirut. This is Beirut, which they once thought they owned. A chant that never happened before. The kings cannot grasp it.
It is not only a matter of public policy, which is a basis, but with Saudi Arabia in particular we cannot overlook the psychological structures: the mentality of the kings. One day Nasser got the best of King Saud. He saw that every Egyptian soldier is more honorable than his crown. This is what the Najd Family will not and has not forgotten. He was alone, and he did it. Today times have changed.
Al-Sabhan expressed surprise in his last tweet: "But the strangeness is the silence of the [Lebanese] government and the people with it." He meant silence on the resistance. It is really a strange matter. We are being eaten and you do not object! We were not used to this! We have a lot of money and this does not anger anyone on our behalf! He missed the fact that the world is changing, at least here, and the Earth is spinning. In general, his surprise at the silence of the government is the government's business, which is not generally silent. But who said the people are silent? Here they are speaking. The Lebanese, perhaps, are among the most talkative people. Al-Sabhan is inevitably watching them on social networking sites.
No negative criticism was left unanswered. He hears nothing but praise, but rejection is "silence" to him. That is how the "royal mind" works. They can "instruct" their media to open the air directly from the heart of Beirut and ask people what they think of Saudi politics. Does Sabhan accept this challenge? In general, the Lebanese are waiting for his actions, the translation of his threats, and they have only this hope: breaking the boredom.
Source: Al-Akhbar Newspaper, Translated by website team
