The Lebanese Elections Issues

Forget Abortion, Gun Control, Gay marriage and the separation of church and state. To better understand the Lebanese Elections, it is worth looking at the real issues that make the Lebanese tick.

The coming election is by no means held in normal circumstances, and the candidates will be conveniently divided between opposition and loyalists; But as Jumblat put it yesterday, what next? How are the elected Mps going to cooperate among themselves? What are the Left and Right in the Lebanese politics?

In a series of posts, The Beirut Spring will try to underline what the Lebanese would consider their "Electoral Issues", hoping that this will provide an insight not just to the Lebanese mind, but to the Arab mind in General.

ISSUE #1: The "Warmness to the Outside World" (W.O.W) factor.

This might is the most difficult for outside observers to understand, but in a way, it is a uniquely Arab/Moslem thing and it is in the heart of most American/European problems nowadays (integrating immigrants, terrorism, democracy in the Arab world).
It basically boils down to a simple question: To what extend do we really see ourselves as part of the international community? The answer has both a social and a political dimension.

These are the narratives that form the two ends of the W.O.W spectrum:

Extreme right: (conspiracy theory, insecurity and paranoia)
America and Israel are trying to control the Arab world. it is part of a general assault on Islam/Arab world that has been taking place for ages. They have nurtured oppressive rulers in the region so that they could take them out whenever it suits their interests. Only military resistance works and the peace process is a big lie. Also, "the west" is trying to impose its social values on us, dominating us with their decadent culture so that we get weaker internally.
We don't want our sons and daughters to go out "clubbing", this is a foreign concept. We are just different, we have a different mentality and I would never let my daughter get married to an "Ajnabi" (a widely used xenophobic term that describes all non Arabs)

Extreme Left (Naive Internationalism, Idealism, Ivory-tower Intellectualism)
We are part of the international community and the highest legal authority is the UN. America has changed since September 11th and the Americans really want us to have free elections. The Israelis and Palestinians are talking their way into what seems to be a real peace deal, which will lead the way into peace in the region. Militarism never solves problems. We cherish diversity and the world is generally a good place where we could strive as a nation that is only judged by how much we produce.

Below are Two graphs tentatively placing the Lebanese and some Arabs along the W.O.W spectrum.