Photos: Wild Fires In Lebanon, Aley, July 2008.

Wild fires near Aley are causing civil-war-era mines to explode and are proving hard for the firefighters to contain. Here are some pics:

(Photos from Reuters, Getty Images and AFP)

Hezbollah’s Case For Itself

Hey, did you know that the “resistance’s” goal is to help “preserve sovereignty, independence, and freedom, and the liberation of all occupied territories?”

Hezbollah’s No 2, Sheikh Naim Kassem has given us a glimpse of how Hezbollah will be fighting for its relevance in the coming period. In a lecture to Arab university professors from Tunisia, [...]

Coexisting With Hebollah

If you can’t beat them, join them?
(Photo credit: New York Times)
Elias Harfoush makes the argument in Alhayat that Hezbollah has reached an amount of pre-eminence no one else has ever achieved in Lebanese politics, and that it would be foolish for us to think that it will willingly shrink itself to go back to equal [...]

Photos: Mouallem’s Visit To Lebanon

Here are some pictures from the Syrian Foreign Minister’s “landmark” visit to Lebanon, from the protests of families with relatives jailed in Syria to the handing of the official letter of invitation to President Sleiman.
(Photos by Reuters)

He’s Coming

How can we be balanced in receiving the Syrian Foreign Minister?

Fine, we should begrudgingly try to open a new page with Syria. We should focus on our interests and not on our resentments..etc, but am I the only one who finds today’s Daily Star editorial troubling?
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem’s visit to Beirut today will [...]

Last Week Recap

Below is the list of posts I wrote last week, ordered from the most to the least controversial. Perhaps you’d like to revisit the responses to old comments you made?

The PR Battle Over Samir Kuntar
Lebanese Bloggers Not Happy With Kuntar Celebrations

Bright Ideas From The Aounist Ministers
Why Walid Jumblat Has Embraced Samir Kuntar

Iran Counter-Photoshoped
I Won’t [...]

Bright Ideas From The Aounist Ministers

Fresh ideas from the fresh ministers. Unbridled ambition or pitiful naiveté?
(Photo source)
Perhaps it’s because they never really got to navigate the labyrinth of governance in Lebanon, but Gebran Bassil, our new minister of Telecommunications and Alain Tabourian, our new minister of energy and water, –both Aoun loyalists– have brandished some sensible plans for their [...]

Having It Both Ways.. Literally

What’s the difference between a wish and an assertion? In the world of Mr. Walid Jumblat, it’s simply a clarification.