Qifa Nabki
Qifa Nabki
Divided Societies
A journalist called me yesterday afternoon for a comment on the recent news that Mitt Romney had appointed Walid Phares to his foreign policy team. As is well known, Phares was a member of the Lebanese Forces’ Executive Committee during the Lebanese Civil War, and the news of his appointment provoked a few expressions of … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki Turns Three, Plus a New Blog on Egypt
This blog began life three years ago with a “conspiracy chronicles” post that seems awfully relevant today. Four hundred posts later (we aim for concision) and with over 22,000 comments (our readers aim for prolixity), things remain interesting, so perhaps I won’t make good on my threat to shut it all down and retire to … Continue reading
Lebanon and the Arab Revolutions
Several months ago, I found myself in a group discussion on Facebook about the Arab revolutions. Egypt and Tunisia had recently toppled their dictators, and the freedom train seemed poised to roll into Yemen, Libya, Syria, and beyond. It escaped no one during this season of political transformation in the Middle East that Lebanon was … 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
Miqati Clarifies Stance on What Kind of Tumor Hizbullah Is
“Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Sunday confirmed remarks attributed to him by a WikiLeaks document about describing Hizbullah as a “tumor,” but stressed that his words were taken out of context and that he had described the Shiite party as a “non-malignant tumor.” (Naharnet) Here follows the transcript of Mr. Miqati’s televised address to the … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…