Qifa Nabki
Middle East
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
Flights of Fancy
Another collaboration with the very talented Maya Zankoul! Text by QN, illustrations by Maya.
U.S. Approves Massive Arms Shipment to Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Ahead of a much-anticipated meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman in Washington later this month, the Pentagon announced today that a major arms deal had been reached with Lebanon and that several millions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment would be delivered within weeks. This marks … Continue reading
One and Many
I’ve written a review of Eugene Rogan’s new book, for the Friday Review section of The National. The first couple of paragraphs are posted below, and you can read the whole thing on the newspaper’s website. The Arabs: A History There is something almost old-fashioned about the idea of a book-length history of the Arabs. … 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
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…