Qifa Nabki » environment

Vote on the Next Government’s Agenda

Qifa Nabki — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:09:40 +0000

A few days ago, I asked readers to submit what they considered to be the most important priorities for the new Lebanese government to tackle. Although this exercise remains a hypothetical thought experiment (due to the continuing stalemate over the cabinet formation), here’s hoping that your efforts will not be in vain.

Vote for your top ten priorities out of the list of thirty-six below. Needless to say, your votes are entirely untraceable, so don’t be bashful about expressing your opinion.

News and Notes

Qifa Nabki — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:17:39 +0000

A few quick things:

1) The Safadi Foundation’s blog (which is good, you should read it) has a useful recap of yesterday’s House Foreign Affairs Middle East Central Asia Subcommittee’s hearing with Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman. Among the highlights, the following question from Chairman Gary Ackerman (who once coordinated with Michel Aoun to turn SALSRA from a dream into a reality… AIG, correct me if I’m wrong about that):

In the two areas we are trying to improve relations with Syria mainly bilateral relations and Middle East peace, are we going to be willing to pay in Lebanese coins?

You see, we’re not being paranoid. Politicians really do talk like that. Click the jump to read more.

2) Rob, of Arabic Media Shack fame, now has a new blog. Wasn’t it Cicero who said that you can take the man out of the blog, but you can’t teach him new tricks? Or something like that. Anyway, subscribe to his RSS feed, but not if you haven’t already subscribed to mine!

3) Listen to Philippe Skaff (president of Lebanon’s Green Party) and Ziad Baroud (Interior Minister/Superman) explain why Lebanon needs urgent billboard reform. (Hint: it has something to do with the panneau blocking the madame from walking along the trottoire with her poussette.)

Fighting Climate Change on the Corniche

Qifa Nabki — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:06:11 +0000

Feast your eyes on Rami Eid, an environmental activist who is staging a protest about climate change by spending three days ankle-deep in water in a glass cube on the Corniche, Beirut’s busy seaside thoroughfare. Follow him on his blog here, and check out +961′s photos here.

My hat goes off to the guy for his efforts, but didn’t any of his more publicity-savvy friends point out to him that bringing his entire entertainment system into the cube (TV, laptop, etc.) may put a small dent in his environmentalist’s street cred? I mean, while you’re at it, why not hook up a Sony Playstation, microwave, and air conditioner too? (I suppose the latter would deny him the pretext of strutting around shirt-less…)

Ok, enough teasing. Bravo, Rami!