Qifa Nabki
Lebanon
Those Cheeky Aounists…
Update: (See below for insight on the source of the original billboards) Those of you living in Lebanon have probably seen the strange billboards cropping up all over the place, picturing flags of various Middle Eastern countries with the title: al-arqaam ablagh min al-kalaam (more or less, “numbers speak louder than words”). Diamond had a … Continue reading
Hizbullah Rebuilds South Beirut
I remember hearing Thomas Friedman on NPR after the cease-fire that ended the July War in 2006. He was speaking to Terry Gross if I’m not mistaken, and he said something along the lines of: “Nasrallah is yet another Arab leader who repeats the same formulas as many before him. He’s just another leader who … Continue reading
Love Song for Paul Krugman
Nobel Prize, Shnobel Prize. Getting a YouTube hit song named after you means that you have arrived… Okay, back to sobriety (or maybe not): Here’s a piece on Hizbullah’s “narco-Islamism” from the Middle East Strategy at Harvard blog. (What is narco-Islamism, by the way?) I believe that Jeffrey Goldberg had a two-piece article for The … Continue reading
Vetoing the Veto
What can be read into Saad al-Hariri’s decision to not join a national unity government in the event that Hizbullah and its allies come to power in the June elections? Speaking to AFP on Tuesday, Hariri reiterated his earlier stance on the matter, saying: “It is my democratic right not to take part in such … Continue reading
Does Hizbullah Want to Lose the Election?
[Updated] See below for an extended analysis by Joshua Landis posted in the comment section of the last post. Angry Arab has this report on his blog: “I can report this: many in the Lebanese opposition are grumbling about Hizbullah and its stance in the upcoming parliamentary election. There is a suspicion (among the allies … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…