Qifa Nabki
Lebanon
Lebanon to Hold First Round of Municipal Elections
Lebanon goes to the polls tomorrow (Sunday, May 2nd) for the first round of its 2010 municipal elections. There’s been a good deal of smart commentary of late; see below for a sample of relevant resources on the subject. 1. Lebanon Municipal Elections On Time, But Reform Delayed (by Karam Karam, Arab Reform Bulletin) Lebanon will … Continue reading
Electoral Districts in Lebanon
In the spirit of all the recent discussion about secularism and deconfessionalism in Lebanon, I thought I’d write a post that approached the issue of electoral districting. What’s the connection between electoral districting and abolishing confessionalism, you ask? Grab a chair… As most of us know, the ratio of voters to members of parliament varies … Continue reading
Lebanon’s Confused Secularism
Hi folks. I’ve written a brief piece about tomorrow’s secularism march for The Guardian’s “Comment is Free” section. Feel free to comment either there or here. Who, by the way, is going? Anyone? Can someone do me a solid and take some pictures?
SCUD-D vs. Fateh-110
The Syria-Hizbullah-SCUD crisis has generated an incredible amount of press in the last week. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman was dressed down yesterday before Congress for defending Obama’s engagement policy with Syria, and Foreign Policy alone has carried something like three opinion pieces about the issue just in the past couple of days. (For … Continue reading
Lebanon To March for Secularism
Several thousand miles, two kids, and an unfinished dissertation prevent me from attending the secularism walk scheduled for this Sunday in Beirut. But that won’t stop me from guilting the rest of you into going, assuming that you’re in Lebanon and aren’t hung over from Saturday night partying in Gemmayzeh (where, I hear, Syria will … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…