If you are confused by where Druze Leader MP Walid Jumblatt stands on the Lebanese political scale, then you are not alone. Even his political allies and opponents (or ex-oppenents and ex-allies if that makes sense) are finding it difficult to categorize Jumblatt’s position.
I personally I have my own theory about it; Walid Jumblatt left March14 alliance to March8 alliance, but kept its ideology! In other words, Jumblatt knew he can’t win on March8, so he prefered to join them for now, but kept his soft criticism to them inline with his previous speech. ‘Mechanically’, you can say this is similar to human reincarnation, which is part the Druze beliefs! It happens when the same spirit moves from one body to another after death…
In this way, Jumblatt would have prepared the ground for another U-turn, just in case. But Jumblatt’s endless contradictory remarks reached an extent where they appear in the same news article now, check this:
Jumblatt stressed on Monday the importance of the equation of the army, people, and Resistance…
…The weapons must be gradually incorporated in the official armed forces, since using [non-state] arms domestically is an adventure that can never succeed, no matter what the circumstances are [from the editorial of the PSP Al-Anbaa magazine]
There is a difference between: a guy trying to fix an issue between two women, and going out with these two women. Jumblatt is going out with both sides now, but his tongue will slip at some point. And I think there is a strong link between this is happening, and the turn of events in Syria.
If Jumbllat’s history is not full of U-turns, I would have said he really wants justice for Rafiq Hariri, stability in Lebanon, and reforms in Syria – irrespective of the local, regional and international balance of powers.