Blogging Lebanon since 2005

This is unbelievable. Morrocan women “of a certain age” are not allowed to go to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage? This is indeed a stereotype too far. as Nisreen Malek wrote in the Guardian today:

Instead of diverting resources to investigate and tackle the problem within Saudi Arabia, the blame and responsibility for the problem has been placed squarely on the shoulders of Moroccan women. This, if I may indulge in a little generalisation myself, is a characteristic way of dealing with issues that touch on morality. Sweep under the carpet, blame the other, and if all else fails, ban something.

But the blame sits not only with the Saudis. The Moroccans should have made a bigger stink out of this. They should have threatened to go all the way and if need-be ban their citizens from going to Saudi Arabia. Maybe this would generate the kind of publicity that forces the entire Arab world to debate this all-too-common stereotype.

(The Marriam)

Looking back at the flotilla fiasco, I can’t help but think of it as a metaphor to how things are done in Lebanon.

Step 1: We like something someone else has done and we decide to do the same.
Step 2: We announce to the world our ambitious plans.
Step 3: We spend ages of haggling among our politicians
Step 4: We realize the project can’t be done so we quitely shelve it
Step 5: We tell everyone we’re still trying.

Apply the above to electricity in Lebanon, gas extraction, internet and connectivity..you get the idea..

We’re been Marriammed over and over again..

So during a debate about what the Lebanese army’s arms should be used for, Lebanese soldiers so happen to shoot and kill 2 Fateh Al Islam leaders, who are loosely linked to alqaeda.

Call me cynical, but this bizarrely convenient event can offer a face saving way out to all parties involved. The Americans will be able to resume aid to the Lebanese army on the ground that it’s fighting “Alqaeda”, the Lebanese side will be able to say that they did not capitulate to the Americans, and Hezbollah (who is threatened by Alqaeda) will look the other way as American aid resumes.

Astounding hypocrisy from our Minister of Communications: (Emphasis mine)

Speaking at a news conference at the Telecommunication Ministry, Nahhas said that turning Lebanon’s telecom sector into a mere source of tax income had caused prices to rise and the network capacity to narrow, leaving the country lagging behind most others in terms of IT and technology.

Remember, this is the same man who, only a few weeks ago banned Skype because it’s “depriving the Ministry of needed income”. Still, if he carried through with his promise and Lebanon ends up having fast and cheap internet, I will be thrilled and will consider him atoned.

Update: I knew it! There’s a catch.

That’s it uncle SAM. You have proven that you will never understand this part of the world.

When your media insists on converting a nuanced Christian observer (A right wing extremist in some eyes) into an anti-semitic Jihad loving, terrorist hugging nutcase, I lose all hope that you’ll ever understand, let alone help solve our complicated issues.

I never liked Hezbollah, In fact I believe they’re the reason many things are wrong in my country. I never liked Mr. Fadlallah either. But yes, I respected him, like Octavia did and like the overwhelming majority of the Lebanese did (US allies and otherwise). I respect him the same way Sayyed Nassrallah, the actual leader of Hezbollah, respects his Israeli arch-enemies for caring for their dead. That doesn’t turn me into a terrorist and that shouldn’t have warranted the firing of Octavia.

But like I argued earlier, it’s CNN’s loss. Perhaps they should hire Debbie Schussel instead.

Go ahead America, wallow in the “you’re either with us or with the terrorists” mentality and isolate yourselves further away from the rest of the world. Personally, I’m moving on.

Update: Here’s how typical regional bloggers are reacting.

So today we learn that the Ministry of Communication officially plans to prohibit the “commercial use” of services like Skype

Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahas will not prevent individuals from using VoIP in Lebanon but only those using this service for commercial purposes will be stopped

Expect that to be the ministry’s main talking point in upcoming talk shows and press interviews on the matter. They want you to believe that this law is actually good for you, the regular guy. That the government is only taking money from big businesses and sparing the grandmas and grandpas who just want to see their grand kids.

Don’t fall for that. That is cheap government talk to justify the creation of an environment that is more hostile to businesses and to consumers. Small businesses will be affected by this, and they’ll dump the extra costs on you. All this because of what? Because of Ogero’s “Revenue Losses”. Because, instead of embracing a technology that makes international communications faster and cheaper, the government wants to protects its dinosaurs that did things the old ways.

It’s like banning computers because the typewriter factory is owned by the government. But don’t worry, only businesses will be affected.

 
 
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What’s in common between the Lebanese Gaza flotilla weirdness and the Lebanese vote in the UN over Iran’s Nuclear weapons?

In both cases, the Lebanese government had to actually make a decision on a topic where the Lebanese people are divided. As long as things remain under the table, our ‘compromise’ government can manage well and stay hush-hush about things. But as soon as they are put on the spot and have to make a choice, the Doha agreement that ended our latest political impasse began to show its limitations.

In both cases, there was intense pressure from two opposing sides for making completely different decisions, and  Lebanon felt like a tug-of-war cable between Iran and Syria on one side and the rest of the world on the other. Something will have to give.

In the UN, we had the option of abstaining. But we find ourselves in a quandary with the flotilla. What started first as a me-too effort at emulating the popular turkish fleet is facing intense international and local pressure to backtrack.

But our compromise system that likes to put a united Lebanese face behind everything can’t handle backtracks. We tried sending the boats via Cyprus because it was illegal to go straight to Gaza, but we find Cyprus frowning at us. So now, in what is quickly becoming a farce, we are denying our relationship with the ships and even acting as if they don’t exist. Something doesn’t feel quite right with this situation

I don’t pretend I know the answer to this problem. On one hand, everyone in the region has an interest in stability and there’s a balance of Terror. But when the consensus ends, Lebanon’s political system will not be capable of handling the consequences.

Note: Posts with titles starting with an asterisk * are my opinion posts. I used this system to separate long posts from quick links and comments.

 
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The General Security have made a mockery out of Lebanon yesterday by storming Massrah el Madina using heavily armed forces to prevent a play from going through for being “too saucy” for Lebanese tastes.

Of course the law is the law, and perhaps the people behind the play could have done their paperwork better. But the implementation is so crude you can’t help but wonder who gave the orders.

In addition to heavy handedness, the raid will have exactly the opposite effect from the one intended: It will give the offending play a lot of publicity. I for one am now curious to see what the play Oublie La Voiture by Rachid El-Daïf is all about, so i dug up this L’Orient Le Jour review:

«Oublie la voiture», coproduite, entre autres, par Pilot Group 17, est inspirée de trois romans de Rachid el-Daïf. Elle brosse les rapports homme-femme, qui, de Beyrouth à Bruxelles, paraissent universels. Dans ce lieu de conflit où se confrontent tradition et modernité, ce terrain de l’intime que l’auteur scrute avec un regard cru, trois histoires de couples se déroulent en parallèle, se croisent et s’entrechoquent. Sous la direction artistique de Rahim Elâsri, tous les tabous et les non-dits d’un monde arabe égaré dans ses identités sont étalés.