"Sarkozy, that son of bitch!"

The above quote is from Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon. A bunch of people from my program met him on Saturday, apparently my dialect teacher knows him because she's taught his kids over the years. I wish I'd made it to this meeting, not so much because I like the guy, but because he is and has been for years an important fixture on the Lebanese political scene. He called French President Nicholas Sarkozy a "son of bitch!" for his participation in this past weekend's summit in which he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and it was agreed that Syria and Lebanon would open embassies in each other's capitals. Currently Jumblatt is anti-Syrian, though that has not always been the case. He has had the tendency to ally himself and his movement with whomever best suits his current needs (in fact he used to be pro-Syrian), and at this point in time, it's the anti-Syrian March 14th Alliance.

One of my favorite Jumblatt stories I've heard since I've been here has to do with the Syrians. After the assassination of former PM Rafik Harriri and the March 14th (...get it?) Cedar Revolution in 2005, the Syrians officially "left" Lebanon. One year later, one year after they "withdrew", Jumblatt received a message from the Syrians in which they congratulated him on the new egg laid by one of the geese in his high-security compound.

My friend told me that Jumblatt keeps a Glock and three live magazines on his desk.