Qifa Nabki
Reform
The Turnstile Executive
Michael Young’s op-ed over at the Daily Star makes sense on the following point, I find: But right after shattering the jar of complacency on Hizbullah, Sfeir was asked about the abolition of political confessionalism. And here the patriarch fell back into a disposition that showed why, for all his qualities, he is no innovator. … Continue reading
Political Reform: The RedLeb Plan
I find it easier to debate a complicated issue (like political reform in Lebanon) when someone has taken the trouble to propose the outlines of a solution. Blank slates tend to stifle discussion. Therefore, I’d like to re-post a comment that one reader, “RedLeb”, left in the “Abolishing Political Sectarianism” discussion. It stirs the pot … Continue reading
Abolishing Political Sectarianism in Lebanon
The topic de jour these days in Beirut, in case you haven’t heard, is abolishing political sectarianism. The Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, has lent his full-throated support to President Sleiman’s call to establish a commission to study the ways and means to do away with Lebanon’s dysfunctional system, and various other politicians have chimed … Continue reading
General Aoun’s Interview with Marcel Ghanem
Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun went on Kalam al-Nas (the most widely-watched political talk show in Lebanon) last Thursday, and had a long conversation with Marcel Ghanem, the show’s famous host. The entire interview is available on YouTube in ten-minute installments. You can catch the first one here, and then navigate to the … Continue reading
Charbel Nahas: The FPM’s Secret Weapon?
For a period of a couple months, the cabinet formation was help up by a dispute about the appointment of Gebran Bassil — Michel Aoun’s son-in-law — as Telecommunications Minister. Aoun wanted him re-appointed; Saad Hariri did not. Eventually, a compromise was reached: the FPM was allowed to keep the Telecommunications Ministry as long as … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…