Qifa Nabki
Lebanon
Hizbullah: It Feels So Good to Be So Bad…
Boy oh boy is the Axis of Evil the place to be these days. To witness the envoys tripping over each other in an effort to court Iran, Syria, and Hizbullah is to realize that the birth pangs of the New Middle East have been replaced by the death throes of the Bush doctrine. Being … Continue reading
Deadline Nears for Lebanese Voter Registration
View from a ’72 Benz C250 series, issue no. 4 “Three quarters of the people who get into my cab think the elections will be called off for ‘security reasons’.” I’m in a taxi, heading from Mar Mikhael to Hamra. “Really?” “Yes. What do you think?” “Me?” I ask, even though there’s no one else … Continue reading
Can Lebanon Play a Role in Syrian-Israeli Talks?
Joshua Landis, over at Syria Comment, has a good analysis entitled “Why Syria Will Not Get the Golan Back“. In it, he argues that obstacles such as mutual mistrust and the imbalance of power will overwhelm the Syrian-Israeli negotiations, producing “talks and plenty of discussions and process, but no peace.” Landis is planning to argue … Continue reading
Who Will Win Lebanon’s Elections? (Part I)
I had lunch with one of Lebanon’s top pollsters a couple of days ago, and I asked him about whose chances he liked, now that we’re just over three months away from the parliamentary elections. He said that Aoun had not lost as much support among Christians as his opponents are claiming. In fact, many … Continue reading
Michael Young Comes to Hitchens’ Defense
Michael Young, opinion editor of the Daily Star, has an interesting op-ed today (“On Not Debating Christopher Hitchens”) about Hitchens’ visit to Beirut and the lecture he gave, entitled “Who are the Revolutionaries In Today’s Middle East?” In the article, Young sets his sights on a surprising target: the audience at the lecture, the majority … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…