Time to talk Taif

GOOD news is in short supply in the war-torn, economically stagnant Arab world. So even small doses of it are worth celebrating. This week Lebanon at last got a new president, after two-and-a-half years when the job was vacant. He is, admittedly, 81 years old and a former Christian general-cum-warlord, but Michel Aoun (pictured) has made himself acceptable to the country’s three main groups: Christians, Shias and Sunnis. No other candidate managed that.The average Lebanese citizen may not notice much difference, though. Rubbish is likely to remain uncollected, and the electricity supply sporadic. For one thing, the president is not responsible for day-to-day administration. More important, the ridiculously long time it took to find a president is a symptom of a systemic flaw in Lebanese politics. The Taif agreement, struck in 1989 to end 15 years of civil war, has ossified a constitutional settlement that is manifestly unfair to Lebanon’s Muslims.