I attended the Carnegie Middle East Center’s post-election seminar this afternoon at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hamra. Presentations were given by four directors of prominent civil society organizations: Paul Salem (Carnegie MEC), Richard Chambers (IFES), Oussama Safa (LCPS), and Ziad Abdul Samad (LADE). Richard kicked off the event with one of his excellent PowerPoint … Continue reading
You might want to turn on your televisions tonight, as Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah will be addressing the nation at 8:30 PM. I’m not going to predict what he’s going to say — in fact, I’m giving up predictions in general, and maybe forever — but a gambling man might bet his mortgage on the … Continue reading
Before last night’s Lebanese election results started pouring in, I had been mentally penning a ‘morning after’ post entitled “Anatomy of a Defeat”, in which I would attempt to put my finger on exactly what it was that led to the undoing of the March 14 movement over the past couple of years. As anyone … Continue reading
We are awaiting the final confirmation from the Ministry of the Interior, but media sources are widely reporting a victory for March 14, and opposition leaders have all but conceded defeat. Tomorrow (or later today, I should say), the next battle begins. At stake is the question of the premiership and the composition of the … Continue reading
** I will be updating this post throughout the day with election coverage, so check back regularly (scrolling to the bottom) to keep abreast of the developments. 11:30 AM — I hit the road this morning bright and early at 7am, determined to beat the traffic down south to Saida. It took me a mere … Continue reading
And the people say…