Qifa Nabki
Elections
Hariri For Government Formation Without “Hastiness”
I’m so pleased that Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has one hand on the wheel and the other firmly on the emergency brake, because this whole cabinet formation process is going a little too quickly for my taste. I mean, it’s only been two months since the election. What’s the big rush? Interrupting the poor man … Continue reading
March 14 Comes Undone
It’s the end of an era. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I can’t quite recall who made this point a few months ago, but it seems certain that the era of high-stakes, zero-sum politics is over, having been replaced by the mundane triangulations of consociational compromise. Or something like that. In other words, Lebanon … Continue reading
Walid Goes a-Courtin’
Twitter and the blogosphere are buzzing with news of Walid Jumblatt’s latest about-face, in which he announced at a PSP gathering that his alliance with March 14 “was driven by necessity and must not continue.” Jumblatt further stressed the need “to rethink a new formation that would provide a way out of bias and prevent … Continue reading
How Many Lebanese Were Flown In To Vote?
Even before the results of last month’s parliamentary election were announced, there was a great deal of discussion in the media about the money being spent to fly thousands of Lebanese home to vote. This, we were told, was a massive operation, costing millions of dollars, and resulted in anywhere between 60,000 to 120,000 additional … Continue reading
Is That a Silver Bullet In Your Pocket…
We’ve entered the third week of deliberations over Lebanon’s next cabinet lineup, and there is no end in sight. Hariri has paid more house calls than a 19th century doctor in typhoid season, and yet for all we know, there isn’t even agreement on the most basic issues, like the number of ministers accorded to … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…