Qifa Nabki
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Saving Lebanon’s Syrian-Saudi-Qatari-Turkish Initiative
It’s been another marathon day for political deal-making in Lebanon. As recently as this morning, the Syrian-Saudi initiative remained dead and buried, only to be resurrected under Qatari-Turkish stewardship (and French oversight) by the afternoon. Tomorrow, we may see the Brazilians and the Russians tossing their hats in the ring, and before you know it, … Continue reading
Some Post-Speech Thoughts
Here are some quick thoughts on Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah’s speech this evening, which I live-blogged here (see here for another English translation). Firstly, I found Nasrallah’s discussion of the terms of the Syrian-Saudi initiative to be quite interesting. If Saad al-Hariri really did agree to the opposition’s demands that they (a) withdraw the … Continue reading
Nasrallah to Address Lebanon on Eve of Indictments’ Release
Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah will give a live televised address this evening at 8:30 PM Beirut time (6:30 PM GMT). Arabic speakers outside Lebanon will almost certainly be able to watch the speech on this website. For non-speakers, I will be live-blogging and translating the speech here. I expect Nasrallah to address the following … Continue reading
Saad al-Hariri Caught On Tape with “False Witness” Muhammad Zuhair al-Siddiq
Well this is embarrassing. Lebanese TV station al-Jadeed has a major scoop tonight: a leaked recording of a meeting between Saad al-Hariri, Information Branch chief Colonel Wissam al-Hassan, STL deputy chief investigator Gerhard Lehmann, and Muhammad Zuhair al-Siddiq. You can watch the entire report below. It’s not entirely clear just how damaging this could be … Continue reading
Are All (Middle Eastern) Revolutions Created Equal?
The developments in Lebanon are little more than a distraction compared to the amazing events that have unfolded in Tunisia over the past couple of days. Demonstrating protesters! Police brutality! Collapsing governments! Fleeing autocrats! Thrilling stuff… Now that the Western media has finally sat up to take notice of what’s been happening in Tunisia, several … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…