Qifa Nabki
Middle East
Co-Locating with PMPs: An Assessment of the STL Indictment
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has unsealed its indictment of Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Ayyash, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. You can download a copy of the indictment here (PDF, 12.9 megabytes). I’ve read the document once through and there’s a great deal to mull … Continue reading
Crisis in Syria: A Bloggingheads Diavlog with Michael Young and Elias Muhanna
I recorded a discussion with Michael Young this weekend about the situation in Syria and its impact on Lebanon. You can watch the whole thing at the Bloggingheads website, but be sure to come back and comment. Michael is the opinion editor of the Daily Star, and the author of a very interesting book about … Continue reading
The SSNP’s Fiefdom in Hamra
If you read nothing else today, be sure to read this Jadaliyya anonymous account of an attack on a group of protesters outside the Syrian Embassy in Beirut. As anyone who lives, works, or pub crawls in Hamra knows, this area is SSNP territory. Every six months or so, when I visit my family in … Continue reading
Western Intelligence and the Arab Revolutions
As I was perusing some of the latest Wikileaks cables, I came across this little nugget about Asif Shawkat, the former head of Syrian Military Intelligence and brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad: 05PARIS6580 (September 26, 2005) — President Jacques Chirac’s Technical Advisor on Middle East/Americas Dominique Boche “reiterated that the content of the final Mehlis report would … Continue reading
Oil and Water
There’s been a great deal of discussion lately on the issue of Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel, and how it will impact Lebanon’s plans for off-shore drilling. If you haven’t been following along, I highly recommend a piece Matt Nash wrote on the subject about a week ago. (Matt, as I think I’ve said before, … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…