Qifa Nabki
Free Patriotic Movement
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
News and Notes, August 25 2011
Greetings from Beirut, and apologies for the brief blogging hiatus: I’ve been busy, and I anticipate that next week will be even busier than this one. Here are some thoughts on the week’s big news items. Blanfordgate I don’t quite understand what all the fuss is about TIME Magazine’s interview with someone claiming to be … Continue reading
Muhanna and Yacoubian Talk Lebanon at Bloggingheads TV
Mona Yacoubian and I chat here about the new Lebanese cabinet and the challenges facing it, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the events in Syria, and the new US draft legislation targeting Hizbullah. Be sure to also check out Joshua Landis’s conversation with Ausama Monajed about the Syrian uprising. I believe it was recorded prior to President … Continue reading
Mikati’s Cabinet and the 2013 Elections
I’ve written a brief essay for Foreign Policy about the challenges facing the Mikati government, which you can read here. There are a couple of other observations I’d like to make that are too Lebanon-wonky for FP’s audience but may be of interest to regular readers of QN: Veto politics: Najib Mikati has made a … Continue reading
Lebanon’s New Government
Four and a half months after Hizbullah and its allies dumped Saad al-Hariri’s fractious national unity government, Lebanon finally has a new one. It is led by Prime Minister Najib Miqati and is composed of parties from the political coalition known as “March 8th” which includes Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, Hizbullah, and Amal. It … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…