Qifa Nabki
Middle East
News and Notes (January 6, 2009)
Spencer Ackerman reminds me that he has drawn upon a wealth of evidence to conclude that Al-Qaeda is weaker, and not just the piece I pounced upon (about the panty bomber). Hussein Agha and Robert Malley’s must-read essay for the New York Review of Books, “Israel & Palestine: Can they start over?” The Project on … Continue reading
Twelve months
I love how seriously the QN readership is taking my challenge to come up with the most important developments of 2009 in Lebanon (favorite so far: “my cousin’s wedding in Chekka”). In the meantime, here’s a piece I wrote for The National this week about the Middle East in 2009. (If you’re going out to … Continue reading
News & Notes (Dec. 30, 2009)
I haven’t read it yet, but judging from the reviews, it sounds like Lee Smith’s book is a bit of a dud. Max Rodenbeck skewers it for The National: “Smith believes he has much to teach us about this corner of the world, a patch he covered, from Cairo and Beirut, for the Weekly Standard, … Continue reading
The Gaza Freedom March
Steve Walt has an excellent piece over at Foreign Policy about the Gaza Freedom March. I also recommend you check out PULSE, which is covering developments, and Twitter is a goldmine of articles and press reports. Also check out the Italian GFM members singing Bella Ciao outside the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate in Cairo. Finally, a … Continue reading
Lebanon in 2009
Howdy folks. I’m back in the saddle after a snowy Christmas in Chicago and several days spent trying to characterize (in 1200 words) the Middle East in 2009, for a piece in The National. It’ll be out this Friday. In the meantime, I seem to have caught an acute case of yearinreviewitis, so I thought … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…