About a month ago, Christopher Hitchens, one of the great English-language essayists of our time, passed away. In the time since that unfortunate loss, flood of obituaries has honored the man. According to the standard accounts, Hitchens was a writer, a rascal, and advocate possessing a remarkable talent for provoking and alienating others – even when he [...]
Archive for the ‘Middle East’ Category
Mr. Hitchens Goes to Beirut: Lessons on Violence and Silence in the Levant
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, Syria, tagged AUB, Beirut, Dissent, Hamra, Hitchens, Lebanon, SSNP, Syria, Violence on January 26, 2012 | 7 Comments »
“It’s Time to Finish the Job:” Biggie’s Take on the Region (Christmas Conversations, Volume II)
Posted in Hizbullah, Lebanon, tagged Arab Spring, Christmas, Iran, Lebanon, Oil, Steve Jobs, Syria on January 19, 2012 | 2 Comments »
As if the advice and probing questions of “Guest” weren’t enough, I’ve had to sift through hours of tape to bring you the best of “Biggie’s” take on the region. While that’s not a problem from an entertainment standpoint, it’s a little frustrating to listen to successive barbs directed towards you in what amounts to a [...]
“Go Back to America:” The Guest Strikes Again (Christmas Conversations, Volume II)
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Arab Spring, Christmas, Conversation, Lebanon, Steve Jobs, Syria on January 13, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Year after year, “Guest” has entertained the family with his worldly take on politics and culture. He’s an experienced traveler who’s done business in all kinds of places. In our conversations, Guest has developed a new international relations discipline that I’ll call “Realist Conservative Conspiratory Casual (RC3).” For the most part, his speculations are merely [...]
Christmas Conversations, Volume II: Introduction, Arab Spring, and Steve Jobs
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, tagged Arab Spring, Beirut, Christmas, Conversation, Lebanon, Steve Jobs on January 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Forget about winter merriment. As well as challenging waistlines and livers across the country, Lebanon’s Christmas season offers no respite from intense political debate. Indeed, with members of the family back in town, the holidays are closer to a prolonged political brawl – with breaks to eat and drink, then eat and drink some more [...]
The Big Cat’s Out of the Bag: A Moment of Truth, a Lifetime of Duplicity from Bashar al-Assad
Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Levant, Syria, tagged Arab Spring, Assad, Duplicity, Syria, Violence on December 13, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad keeps making all the wrong moves. In a recent interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, the former doctor sounded more like a butcher – and a heartless one at that. He lied and deflected questions. He made light of a dire situation. He rejected international conventions and global standards on news reporting, [...]
An Oasis of Steel and Glass: A (Westernized) Levantine Impression of Abu Dhabi
Posted in Levant, The GCC States, The Gulf, tagged Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Comfort, Futurism, Glass, Hardware, Infrastructure, Oasis, Software, Steel, UAE on December 4, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The Middle East is not supposed to look this way. Organized city grids, pre-planned mixed-use neighborhoods, green highway medians, strip malls, and a street lamp on every corner. Don’t forget elegant, if empty, steel buildings and roads so smooth that you feel guilty driving on them. From the skies, in one of Etihad’s plush planes, [...]
Keepin’ Busy: Articles on Independence and the LF, Apathy in Casablanca, and Egypt on the Horizon
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Apathy, Casablanca, Egypt, Elections, February20, Lebanon, Morocco, Tahrir, Update on November 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, in part to prove to my friends that I actually write once in a while, I was fortunate enough to publish a couple pieces in NOW Lebanon (some readers might think that an unfortunate event but, politics aside, they’re a creative and accomodating bunch). One piece, “The Beirut autumn,” was an observational commentary of [...]
Life in Lebanon: An Update on the “User’s Manual” and “10 Resolutions” for Lebanon
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Beirut, Diaspora, Grade, Lebanon, Life, Rant, Resolutions, Tourism, Traffic, User Manual on November 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Earlier this year, while battling the bar exam blues, I put together a list of resolutions – doubling as a ”user’s manual” for others – that I hoped to live by upon returning to Lebanon. I’ve been in Beirut since the end of August and will be heading back to the U.S. sometime in January, so an interim review [...]
Tell ‘Em Why You Mad, Son! Understanding Lebanon’s Uncivil Political Discourse
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, March 14, March 8, Syria, tagged Alawites, Alloush, Assad regime, Brawl, Fight, Lebanese, Politicians, Pride, Sunnis, Syrian revolution on November 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A few days ago, two Lebanese politicians literally went at each other’s throats on national television. Setting aside a moment of personal glee - I like a good Lebanese smackdown every now and again (see Qifa Nabki for a list of the best) - the incident was both disappointing and extraordinarily dangerous. For that reason, in contrast to my usual pattern, [...]
The Bourgeois Pigs and Lebanon’s Leftist Elite
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, tagged Bourgeois, Cheese, Lebanon, Left, Leninism, Marxism, Pig, Wine on November 8, 2011 | 4 Comments »
In New York last week, I was fortunate enough to hang out at one of my favorite spots: The Bourgeois Pig. Don’t let the name fool you. This place is all about charcuterie, cheese, wine, and things of that sort. Just like many people in the Lebanese Left (and the “Left” around the world). To [...]
Macho-Sexualism: Understanding the Lebanese Male
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East, tagged Beirut, Crazy Fuckers, Lebanese Man, Macho-Sexualism, Manhood, Rant on October 7, 2011 | 2 Comments »
“I knew the men were Lebanese,” an American friend of mine once said, “because they were well-groomed, slightly overdressed, and just too pretty… but they looked like they had ‘disappeared’ one or two people. I didn’t know what to think, but I just knew they were Lebanese! And I was right.” That was five years [...]
The End of Evolution and the Last (Lebanese) Man: Four Brands, Three Languages, Two Passports, One City
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Beirut, End of History, Frenchie, Lebanese, Man, rooftop on September 7, 2011 | 3 Comments »
(NOTE: The following post was the result of a serendipitous encounter at the beach, which pushed a bunch of tangential thoughts into my brain. It overlaps slightly with the forthcoming “Macho-Sexualism: Understanding the Lebanese Male,” which I was writing at the time…) The other day, at La Plage – everyone’s favorite part pool, part car [...]
My Grandfather, Hizbullah, and the Hobbesian Jungle
Posted in Christians, Druze, Hizbullah, Israel, Levant, Shiites, Sunnis, tagged Beirut, Conflict, Hobbes, Levantine, Pluralism, Tension, War on August 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
“You need a gun.” It was February 14, 2005. Hours earlier, in a massive blast that shook Beirut to its core, assassins had taken the life of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri and dozens more. Between bouts of shock and rage, many Lebanese pointed the finger at Syria, but others focused their attention on [...]
Ministries of Tomorrow: Creating a Cabinet for the New Lebanon
Posted in Lebanon, March 14, March 8, tagged Bullshit, Cabinet, Drug Trade, Future, Lebanon, Ministry, Money Laundering, Ranting on August 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The unrest that has swept though the Middle East this year, particularly the increasingly vigorous revolt - excuse me, D.C. policy wonks, “transition” - in Syria, has had little actual resonance in the streets and squares of Beirut, at least when compared to Lebanon’s own mass mobilizations of 2005. What the Problem Is, Baby? One underexplored element of [...]
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About the Author
Tweeting Lebanon
- Pressing peace between #Syria and #Israel is a bad idea now. A flimsy regime on its way down is a stable partner for peace? @emile_hokayem Posted4 days ago
- RIP Nassib Lahoud... What more can one say? Posted1 week ago
- @Marilynzakhour How unfortunate. Posted2 weeks ago
- @lizsly Love Feltman, but he's wrong on this one (unless I missed broader context). Turkey? Israel? Among Arab countries, Lebanon? Posted2 weeks ago
- Tweeting from my TV. I've fought it for years, but Google and the rest of the Big Brother grid own my ass now. God help us all. Posted2 weeks ago
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