Qifa Nabki
Walid Jumblatt
War of the Camera Phones
A few weeks ago, a video of Walid Jumblatt saying nasty things about his allies appeared on YouTube. This week, a new video has popped up, which has Jumblatt’s arch-rival Talal Arslan calling on the Syrians to make Jumblatt “pay the price” for his betrayal of the community. What is it with Druze leaders and … Continue reading
Sois Libanais
Is Walid Jumblatt brilliant, senile, or both? While seated amongst a klatsch of shriveled Druze elders, the PSP leader launched into a diatribe against his Christian and Sunni allies, which was captured on a camera phone and posted on YouTube. (Who knew that shriveled Druze elders were YouTube savvy?) I don’t know about you, but … Continue reading
Sois Belle Et Vote
We here at qifanabki.com are completely befuddled over the question of what all of these brilliant political ad designers are going to do when the electoral campaign is over. What do you see as the subtext here? No, no, no, I refuse to believe that there is no subtext… we may be a superficial people … Continue reading
After the Elections
I was putting the finishing touches on a piece about the post-election situation when good old Walid “Weather Vane” Jumblatt gave me a nice quote to lead with. On Easter Sunday’s “Beirut-Shweifat-Dahiyeh-Mountains reconciliation” (where old alliances, like Christ, rose up after being left for dead), Jumblatt declared: “Elections are an important phase, but more important … Continue reading
Twenty-Four Hours and Counting…
The Future Movement launched its electoral campaign last night at BIEL with a (rather unusually) charismatic speech by Saad al-Hariri. Eschewing the teleprompters (and correct desinential inflection, alas) al-Hariri built up to a stirring crescendo: “Dear loved ones, there are nine weeks left until June 7. There are nine weeks before we fill the ballot … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…