Qifa Nabki
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Moubayed Strikes Out
Sami Moubayed has a piece in Asia Times this week (“Syria plays hardball with the Saudis”), in which he compares the litany of victories registered by Syria to the string of Saudi defeats. I usually like Sami Moubayed’s analyses, and I found much of what he said in this article to be true, apart from his … Continue reading
Lucky ’13?: Living With Lebanon’s Watered-Down Electoral Law
The ambitious draft law published by the Boutros Commission is officially on ice. The law actually passed by Lebanon’s parliament is a sad shadow of the original, having been stripped of some of the most potentially far-reaching reforms, such as lowering the voting age, allowing Lebanese living abroad to cast absentee ballots, mandating a fixed … Continue reading
Will Israel Destroy Lebanon in 2008?
The threats have become more insistent of late. Ehud Barak promised five Israeli army divisions in the next round of battle against Hizbullah, while Northern Command chief Gadi Eisenkot unveiled his Dahiya Doctrine, stipulating that any village that fired a single shot at Israel would receive the same treatment meted out on Beirut’s southern suburbs. … Continue reading
The Syrian Deployment: For Domestic or Foreign Consumption?
Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar carried a front-page investigative feature today about the much-discussed deployment of Syrian Army forces on its border with northern Lebanon. Al-Akhbar, known for its pro-opposition line, interestingly did not seek to sweep aside recent reports claiming that the Syrian troops numbered in the thousands, not hundreds. In fact, the paper’s reporter confirmed … Continue reading
Lebanon’s Cabbies on the Syria-Israel Negotiations
View from a ’72 Benz C250 series, issue no. 1. Beirut’s service taxi drivers are more oppressed than usual these days. The new Interior Minister, Ziad Baroud, is proving his mettle by enforcing the long-ignored seat belt law, and so the chauffeuriyyeh are predicitably getting shafted, not least because most old cabs don’t even have working seat … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…