Qifa Nabki
Hezbollah
Building an Army, One Pistol at a Time
This just in from Naharnet: apparently the FBI has caught yet another pair of dangerous criminal masterminds who were allegedly trying to replace Iran as Hezbollah’s main military benefactor. Patrick Nayyar, 45, an Indian citizen living illegally in the United States, and Conrad Mulholland, 43, were charged by federal prosecutors with agreeing to supply an … Continue reading
Hizbullah’s Position on the Meaning of Majority Governments
Hizbullah MP Nawwaf Moussawi offered a rare explanation of his party’s position on majoritarianism and what the Constitution has to say about how cabinets should be formed. Here’s the relevant bit: “Yesterday, [Samir Geagea] asked whether or not a majority government was a constitutional government. We say that the Lebanese Constitution considers that if the … Continue reading
Aoun Drops Demands, Opposition Adds New Member
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, General Michel Aoun, has announced that he is dropping what many believed to be the principal obstacle to the Lebanese cabinet formation: the demand that his son-in-law Gebran Bassil be appointed Telecommunications Minister. Anticipation was high in Beirut today that this development would pave the … Continue reading
March 14 Comes Undone
It’s the end of an era. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I can’t quite recall who made this point a few months ago, but it seems certain that the era of high-stakes, zero-sum politics is over, having been replaced by the mundane triangulations of consociational compromise. Or something like that. In other words, Lebanon … Continue reading
The Next Lebanon War
Anyone else feel that there’s a creepy symbiosis about Israel and Hizbullah’s messaging strategies these days? Take this little tidbit from al-Manar’s website, which cites an article in The Times (a Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper) about Hizbullah’s growing arsenal. The original piece states: According to Israeli, United Nations and Hezbollah officials, the Shia Muslim militia is … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…