Qifa Nabki
Ashraf Rifi
Miqati Resignation Threat Looming
LBC is reporting (on Twitter) that Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Miqati is headed to the Grand Serail to announce his resignation over the current cabinet squabble concerning the extension of Ashraf Rifi’s tenure as director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF). I spoke to NOW Lebanon’s Alex Rowell yesterday about this issue, suggesting that … Continue reading
Einstein & the Jackass (Or, the Brilliance of Nadim Koteich)
Sincere apologies for neglecting you all for the past couple weeks, but it seems that you’ve gotten along in the comment section very happily without me. Thanks for a great debate about Syria, and thanks to Camille for sharpening his knives and joining in. There are a million things to talk about and I have lots … Continue reading
Lebanon’s Political Honeypot: What’s Behind the Telecoms Spat
The following commentary is by a well-informed reader of this blog who goes by the pseudonym “Charles”. He was one of the authors of the excellent Lebanese Political Journal blog (largely defunct since about 2007, but a must-read during the post-Hariri assassination years), and his intervention provides some much-needed context on the larger issues behind the telecoms showdown … Continue reading
Coup-Coup in Lebanon: Minister Baroud Resigns Over Telecoms-ISF Showdown
Lebanese Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud resigned yesterday following a bizarre showdown involving two different branches of the Internal Security Forces, Minister of Telecommunications Charbel Nahhas, and Baroud himself. March 14 is calling it a Telecoms Ministry-launched coup against the executive branch of the Lebanese government; March 8th is calling it an ISF-launched coup against the … Continue reading
The Return of Hussam Hussam
Lebanese television station Al-Jadeed released another titillating episode in its series “Haqiqa Leaks” a few days ago, this time featuring the notorious Hussam Hussam, a Syrian intelligence agent who came forward early in the Hariri investigation with information incriminating Syrian and Lebanese security officials. Hussam, like Siddiq (who was the star of his own Haqiqa … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…