With this compliation of the best Beirut Spring posts of the year 2007, I hope you all have a good 2008. Most importantly though, don’t forget to forget Lebanese politics and enjoy the party tonight. Maybe even email me pictures of your celebrations?

(Note: This is the year I moved from blogspot and made a redesign, so excuse me if some of the archive articles have missing comments or photos, and sorry for some other little quirks.)

January:

• Mr. Michel Aoun’s photoshop skills exposed.

Februrary:

• The Black Panthers of Taree2 el Jdeede
• Hezbollah’s Jihad Al Bina’ targeted
• The Hariri-Geagea-Jumblat Alliance is here to stay

March:

• Terror at Lebanese campuses
• Endorsing Nicolas Sarkozy
• Beirut dies but the partying in Batroun lives on.
• Is the FPM declining?

April:

• Can the Lebanese reduce the mobile phone rates?
• The killing of Ziad & Ziad
• Loans for bosoms
• Hezbollah cheating on their exams?

May (The Nahrel Bared Month)

• Nassrallah warns the Army not to interfere in Nahr el Bared
• The Lebanese are turning Aljazeera off •Mr. Jumblat explains why.
• Opinion: The Army should be tough in Naher el baled.
• Early skepticism. Does the Army have a plan?
• Meanwhile, the bombs go on: Verdun , Aley

June

• An Intifada against the Lebanese Army
• Murr’s embarrassing “Mission accomplished” moment
• The Sawsan Darwish Affair
• “Lebanese September 11″ foiled.

July

• In Lebanon, sex and security sell. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• Global warming kills 15 Syrian soldiers, wounds 50
• Still fighting in Nahrel Bared
• An Israeli blogger in Beirut.
• Debate in Canada about Lebanese Canadians
• The July war, one year on.
• Politics and paranoia

August

• Insulting the Prophet
• Rabih Mroué’s play: Banned, protested, Unbanned
• Opinion: The Lebanese should have a strategic armistice
• Michel Suleiman: Inevitable candidate?
• Tsunami in Lebanon?

September

• Does the opposition still have traction?
• Saad Hariri, the shameless pro-American
• Who killed Antoine Ghanem?
• Hezbollah’s tent city, now on Google earth

October

• An American military base in Lebanon?
• My trip to Washington
• The Curious case of Hussein Zurkot
• Lebanese and politics. A game of soccer
• The incredible Google catch on Lebanon

November

• March 14 endorse Michel Suleiman
• Mr. Suleiman is popular

December

• The killing of François Hajj
• Who did it?

After I finished the compilation, I realized: Wow, this was one eventful year. Lebanon is quite the soap opera don’t you think?

Assafir’s “scoops” are turning out to be nothing but empty propaganda wishlists.

This morning, the pro-opposition newspaper Assafir ran a story which alleged that Army officers were refusing promotions given to them by the Seniora government. Naturally, the subtext of the story was that the Army -a respectable institution- was not ok with Mr. Seniora’s using presidential powers.

Even Naharnet, the vanguard March 14 website, believed and ran Assafir’s story. But as today’s flat Army denial shows, the story is totally false.

The Seniora cabinet had held a session to sign resolutions previously turned down by ex-President Emile Lahoud. Those included crucial measures like the payment of retirement money to government officials and belated promotions.

As falsehoods often do, Assafir’s story backfired. The Army’s rebuttal included a reference to “H.E. Mr. Seniora”, the very point Assafir wanted to undermine.

While FPM supporters insist that they are reasonable people, most of the readers of this blog associate Aounists with nutheads and demagogues (comments by Aoun supporters are hardly changing this perception).

Please take your time to read it (No subscription link)and let me know what you think of it.

The opposition’s bungled-up reaction to Mr. Seniora’s latest move is testimony to its effectiveness.

Source: Yahoo!

For the last few weeks, the majority was in a fix. For every concession they made, the opposition asked for more. It was becoming clear to March 14 that the opposition was sensing weakness, and that what it really wanted is a vacuum that lasts until the Arab League Summit in Damascus next March.

Hardball is the Lebanese way of negotiating. And the only way one can extract concessions is by storming out of the negotiation room and going it alone. That was more or less what the Seniora government has just done. After all, a quest for total domination disguised as a pursuit of consensus can only fool some people for some time. March 14 might have decided that it’s time to turn the table.

Mr. Seniora’s move was so sudden and unexpected that the opposition couldn’t coordinate a common position. Even the otherwise calm Al-Akhbar blurted out that Mr. Seniora is compromising Mr. Suleiman’s presidency (a ridiculous charge considering the measures were precisely made for electing Mr. Suleiman)

To Mr. Aoun, the measures were Seniora’s blatant usurping of Christian rights (by using the President’s powers). To Mr. Berri, they were an unconstitutional move by an unconstitutional government, and to Hezbollah they were the result of an American shot in the arm to divide the Lebanese.

One can argue on whether or not Mr. Seniora’s measures were the right thing to do, but what we can all agree on is that the waters needed some stirring.

Related Beirut Spring Post:

• In November 22, I wrote on how Lebanon moved into “Vacuum Management”

What the holiday spirit tells us about Lebanon and the Lebanese.

When I left Tripoli to go to Beirut’s RHI Airport, I calculated that my trip will take the usual one hour and a half. I was wrong. I blame my nearly-missed flight (and the terrible prospect of having to wait a month for another available seat) on all the shopping going around; it took me an additional 30 minutes to cross the Dbayyeh highway facing the ABC mall, and an additional 30 minutes in the 500m strip before City mall.

I’ve driven on this highway for ages, but I’ve never seen so many people. Where did they all come from?

An article in today’s New York Times can help enlighten us.

…the Lebanese diaspora reverses itself on holidays, as the migrants who sustain the war-shattered Lebanese economy all year return from jobs across the globe to spend time with their families. Nothing will deter them — not bad weather, not interminable flights and certainly not the Grinch-like mood of Lebanon’s endlessly feuding politicians.

In other words, for all the talk of the Lebanese being “politicized”, we couldn’t care less about politics when the time comes for celebrating with our families. As the Ministry of Tourism’s clever ad puts it: The safest place in the world is in the arms of your loved ones.

Paradoxically, the people outside of Lebanon are the most concerned about the Lebanese “situation”. The biggest headaches for those inside on the other hand are finding reservations and parking spots. The politicians can squabble all they want, but they really do think twice before messing with is our “holidays’ inverse Diaspora”

A few more days and I’ll be out of Lebanon and hopefully the postings will be back to normal. I hate to make excuses but I can’t believe how difficult it is to get a decent temporary internet connection here.

Anyway, Happy hollidays to all and thanks again for baring with me. I’ll leave you now with some posters I found in Tripoli..