Qifa Nabki
Sectarianism
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
Political Reform: The RedLeb Plan
I find it easier to debate a complicated issue (like political reform in Lebanon) when someone has taken the trouble to propose the outlines of a solution. Blank slates tend to stifle discussion. Therefore, I’d like to re-post a comment that one reader, “RedLeb”, left in the “Abolishing Political Sectarianism” discussion. It stirs the pot … 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
All for None
I’ve written an opinion piece on the senselessness of consensual politics for The National. It will be out in print this Friday, but the editors at The Review have agreed to put it up a couple of days early on the website, given the timeliness of the subject matter. The first few paragraphs are below. … Continue reading
The Lebanon of Western Europe
There’s another great post on the excellent blog Strange Maps focusing on this fascinating “cartogram of regional political mentalities in Switzerland.” Here’s how to read it: A cartogram being a map morphed by non-geographic data, there is very little left of Switzerland’s familiar shape to recognise here. The confederation’s centuries-old cartographic persona is transformed by … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…