Lebanon as a new non-permanent member of the UN Security Council

Yesterday, the UN General Assembly elected 5 new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for a period of two years, beginning in January 2010. Lebanon received 180 votes out of 192. 

The last time it had a seat on the UNSC was in 1954 and while some may see recent developments as a blessing, others see it as a curse. Indeed, President Suleiman believes that Lebanon will now be in a position to uphold the rights of Palestinians and fellow Arab countries in this World body. On a less positive note, some experts disagree and argue that while Lebanon remains a divided country, whatever side it takes on strategic decisions in the Security Council, will always be politically risky due to the polarised nature of Lebanon's internal politics....A country which, 5 months after general elections, still has no established government, due to ongoing disagreements on a cabinet formation (see posting 10 September 2009).  

Lebanon's Daily Star has recently published an interesting editorial on the negative aspects of Lebanon's new seat on the UNSC, read it here.