It's looking as if Lebanon will not have a new government until late next month – after the end of Ramadan. Ms Tee, blogging at B-side Beirut, outlines three current theories about the reasons for the delay:

1. Michel Aoun is making impossible demands

2. Saudi Arabia and Syria (the two key power brokers) are having trouble in their negotiations – a process the is possibly complicated by the US rapprochement with Syria.

3. Saudi Arabia and Syria have agreed on how to carve up the government posts (15 for the Saudi-backed March 14 group, 10 for the Syrian-backed opposition and five for the president) but Lebanese politicians are squabbling over who gets which jobs.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 25 August 2009.