Qifa Nabki
March 14
Is the Opposition Losing Patience With Aoun?
Three developments in the past couple of days have signaled that we may indeed be nearing the end of Lebanon’s five-month stretch without a government. 1) As reported earlier, Suleiman Frangieh — the leader of the Marada party, and a member of the Change & Reform Bloc — expressed his annoyance with the fact that … Continue reading
Egypt Selling Lebanon Down the Nile?
An astute reader of this blog sent me the following commentary, which speculates about the significance of several curious little signals coming out of Egypt. ** In a sudden cloud burst of optimism, the Cabinet Alert Level was raised to orange Monday evening, only to come crashing down on the rocks of further demands by … Continue reading
Put On a Happy Face
The past twenty-four hours have been bewildering, even by Lebanese standards, for all of the mixed signals coming out of Beirut about the cabinet formation. Yesterday, there were widespread reports of “optimism” and a “positive atmosphere” regarding the talks. Today, however, all this exuberance has evaporated in the wake of what The Daily Star is … 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
Saad Hariri Takes the Plunge
Cozily ensconced on the fifth floor of Widener Library, surrounded by musty tomes and post-it notes, I’ve finally found a moment to check on the old blog after a fortnight’s hiatus. Luckily, there is actually something to talk about. Saad al-Hariri has finally put together a cabinet proposal and submitted it to President Suleiman for … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…