Introduction to the evening news 09-11-2011

 “Hold your breath” would be an appropriate headline for today’s developments in Syrian, Iranian and European issues. Syria is holding its breath until the outcome of the Arab ministerial committee’s Saturday meeting in Cairo will be unveiled.

Will this meeting, against the backdrop of the setback suffered by the Cairo agreement, mark the failure of all Arab solutions? Will the Arab League throw in the towel, making way for Western powers to take over? At that point, in which direction will the situation sway?

This question will remain unanswered until the destiny of Iran’s nuclear troubles becomes clear. Israel seized the IAEA’s report that retrenched fears of Iran’s production of nuclear weapons to urge the world to pull the plug on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. Israel’s call was met with Russia’s refusal to give the green light to the imposition of further sanctions against Russia.

Europe, on the other hand, has good reason to hold its breath. In fact, the old continent is witnessing a financial Spring with the Euro responsible for the fall of two heads of state: the first is Greek PM George Papandreou and the second is Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, who will soon resign.  

Returning to our primary concern, Lebanon, reports issued by the Financial Times on funds being smuggled from Syria into Lebanon raised the ire of the Lebanese banking sector as well as that of the money changers.