Qifa Nabki
Israel
Hizbullah and Rational Choice
“What matters is not what the Gentiles will say, but what the Jews will do.” — David Ben Gurion When Hizbullah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah admitted last week that his party was militarily involved in the Syrian conflict, the news seemed to deepen the cognitive dissonance initially caused by Nasrallah’s vocal support for the Syrian … Continue reading
Who is Right on Syria?
Greetings from dissertation-land. I’ve tried my best to keep my head down over the past few weeks, hence the long spell between posts. Since the comment section is stirring with a discussion about the events in Syria, though, I thought I’d throw a quick post up with some of the most interesting bits and pieces … Continue reading
Hizbullah, Ashura, and the Art of the Political Parable
I’ve written something for the NY Times Global’s Latitude blog about one of Nasrallah’s Ashura speeches last month. In the interest of space, I couldn’t include extensive translations from the speech, so I thought I’d make them available here. For context and the broader argument, check out the original post here. I’ve been criticized before … Continue reading
Oil and Water
There’s been a great deal of discussion lately on the issue of Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel, and how it will impact Lebanon’s plans for off-shore drilling. If you haven’t been following along, I highly recommend a piece Matt Nash wrote on the subject about a week ago. (Matt, as I think I’ve said before, … Continue reading
Nakba Day Controversies
A debate has emerged in the wake of Sunday’s tragic border killings, turning on the question of whether the commemoration of Nakba Day (which led to a fence breach in the Golan Heights [check the video out here] and at least ten people killed in Southern Lebanon) was orchestrated by the Assad regime and its … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…