March 14

Lebanese Political Talk Show Rumbles: A Tentative Top Five

As regular readers will attest, I’m something of a Lebanese political talk show junkie. Shows like Kalam al-Nas, Bi-Mawdu`iyyeh, al-Fasad, and others, in my view, do a much better job of derailing politicians off their talking points than most of their counterparts in the West. In a country where the print media is largely ignored … Continue reading »

@yuhaa ‘l-Lubnaniyoun: The Zu`ama Discover Twitter…

The Future of al-Mustaqbal

Now that the mystery of Moussa al-Sadr’s disappearance has been solved, Lebanon needs a new vanished imam to contemplate. Why not Saad al-Hariri? Even by his own peripatetic standards, al-Hariri’s absence from the political scene over the past several months has been something to behold. The man has well and truly left the building, and … Continue reading »

Who Would Benefit from Proportional Representation in Lebanon’s 2013 Elections?

I recently read an interesting profile of ex-Minister of the Interior Ziad Baroud in Al-Akhbar English (which, by the way, you should all be reading on a daily basis). The last two paragraphs, in particular, caught my eye: As part of his interest in electoral law, Baroud is in contact with Bahij Tabbara, a former … Continue reading »

Wikileaks Sheds Light on Origins of Aoun’s Alliance With Hizbullah

Apologies for the brief hiatus in blogging. I’ve just returned from a trip to Beirut, arriving just in time for the start of the academic semester here, so things are quite busy. I’ll try to do some catch-up over the next few days, but in the meantime, here’s a brief comment on a couple items … Continue reading »