Qifa Nabki
Qifa Nabki
Game-Changer: Nasrallah Announces a New Hezbollah Deterrence Strategy
What began as an apparent mistranslation of Ehud Barak’s remarks regarding Israel’s peace negotiations with Syria has snowballed into the clearest possible articulation of a new strategic posture by Syria and Hezbollah towards Israel. Let’s rewind the tape to last week. On February 1st, Ehud Barak made some remarks at an IDF gathering, saying something … Continue reading
Effective Corrupt Leadership: Assessing Rafiq al-Hariri’s Legacy
Yesterday, Saad al-Hariri pulled his sponsorship of a conference held at Antonine University, in which a speaker quoted an “offensive” statement about Rafiq al-Hariri from a recently-published academic study. What was this offensive remark, you ask? That Rafiq al-Hariri was an efficient and productive leader who also happened to be corrupt, though not as corrupt … Continue reading
Ocean Alert: Hunting for Bodies or Treasure?
Conspiracy Chronicles series, no. 6 Is the search-and-rescue ship Ocean Alert hunting for the victims of the tragic Ethiopian Airlines crash, or is it prospecting for gold? So asks this article in al-Akhbar, no doubt prompted by the atmosphere of suspicion that has enveloped the post-crash drama. My sources tell me that everyone has a … Continue reading
Matters of the Heart
This must be the best National News Agency headline ever: أفاد المندوب الأمني للوكالة الوطنية للاعلام، أن شخصا من آل زعيتر أطلق قذيفتين صاروخيتين في الهواء، في حي الشراونة في بعلبك، بعدما فشل في اختطاف فتاة “A member from the Zoaiter family fired two RPGs in the air in Baalbek’s Sharawneh neighborhood after he failed … Continue reading
Giving Expats the Vote: No Real Impact on “Sectarian Balance”?
It’s a little bit cheeky to have another post on the meaninglessness of proposed electoral reforms when we just got done discussing lowering the voting age, but I think this is worth discussing. ElectionGuerilla makes the point succinctly: It’s helpful if we recognize that many of the arguments related to the debate on electoral reform … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…