Qifa Nabki
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Streets of Hamra
The Beirut Marathon began this morning at 7:30 AM, with perfect weather: a brisk 19/66 degrees with clear skies and dazzling sunlight. Hamra was completely cordoned off, with all cars ordered off the street since last night at 9PM. Amazingly, the Hamrawis obliged. The rare lull of activity in the streets meant that I was … Continue reading
Ahmed Matar & Obama
Ms. Tee over at B-side Beirut has a post about Ahmad Matar’s most recent poem, entitled “From Obama”, which has apparently been making the email rounds. The appearance of this poem may explain the strange incident I experienced yesterday. I was visiting my favorite bookshop in Hamra, and someone came in and asked K. — the bookseller — if … Continue reading
The AUB Elections
It’s nearing ten o’clock in the evening here in Beirut and the din of car horns has not yet abated. The occasion? Why, democracy of course. The American University of Beirut held its student elections today. Early this morning, Bliss Street was a sea of sartorial officialdom: the grey urban camouflage of the ISF, the … Continue reading
Justice, A Dish Best Served with a Side of Popcorn
By now, we’ve all heard about the amazing work performed by Syria’s finest crack squad of counter-terrorism constables, who rounded up the Shaker Al-Absi Gang lickety split and had them confess to their wicked deeds on national television. It looks like the war on terror is finally producing tangible and satisfying results. Sami Moubayed, writing … Continue reading
On Defense
Lebanon began its second round of national dialogue talks yesterday, with two principal topics on the agenda: (1) Discussing the very important issue of the “national defense strategy”; (2) Postponing discussion of the very important issue of the “national defense strategy” until the third round of talks, where it will be given the highest priority … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…