Qifa Nabki
Lebanon
Bistraynti `Alaykun
I’d like to thank all of the blog’s readers for following along this year and contributing to a wonderful discussion. I’m looking forward to what will certainly be a momentous 2010: municipal elections, disintegrating alliances, potential progress on the Syrian-Israeli peace talks, more tail-chasing on abolishing confessionalism, and a few more Guinness world records. I … Continue reading
Twelve months
I love how seriously the QN readership is taking my challenge to come up with the most important developments of 2009 in Lebanon (favorite so far: “my cousin’s wedding in Chekka”). In the meantime, here’s a piece I wrote for The National this week about the Middle East in 2009. (If you’re going out to … Continue reading
News & Notes (Dec. 30, 2009)
I haven’t read it yet, but judging from the reviews, it sounds like Lee Smith’s book is a bit of a dud. Max Rodenbeck skewers it for The National: “Smith believes he has much to teach us about this corner of the world, a patch he covered, from Cairo and Beirut, for the Weekly Standard, … Continue reading
Lebanon in 2009
Howdy folks. I’m back in the saddle after a snowy Christmas in Chicago and several days spent trying to characterize (in 1200 words) the Middle East in 2009, for a piece in The National. It’ll be out this Friday. In the meantime, I seem to have caught an acute case of yearinreviewitis, so I thought … Continue reading
Merry Christmas
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my za’im gave to me: Twelve drums of mazout, eleven snipers sniping, ten warlords sleeping, nine trips to Maameltein, eight maids a-slaving, seven skiers swimming, six geezers lying, five car theft rings….. four calling cards, three French fry sandwiches, two healths my love… And a car freshener shaped like … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…