Courtesy of naharnet.com
Releasing all of the hostages is something, but releasing one of them is something else. It appears as if the act of liberating the Lebanese pilgrim was a message from his abductors. He wasn’t freed because someone asked for, but because deep down there was a need of sending him home. (more…)
Hassan al-Mikdad in the custody of the Free Syrian Army
They weren’t human or inhuman. They were nonhuman.
That’s how Jean-Paul Kauffman quoted his co-detained in captivity Michel Seurat, who was abducted and died in captivity during the Lebanese Civil War.
It seems that the Hostages War of the eighties resumed. But this time, the Americans and Europeans are replaced by Qataris, Turks and Syrians. This time, the abductions (more…)
Lebanon’s Electoral Map According To The Draft Law
The government just approved the electoral law after more than 2 years of talks and speculations. The parliament still needs to give the green light so the drafted electoral legislature takes effect. But for a number of reasons, that Law is clearly shaped in a way that empowers M8 and the ruling coalition.
PR in itself. Proportional representation is in itself a winning strategy for Hezbollah and Michel Aoun. Just take a look at the diagrams related to the 2009 elections.
Denying the right to vote on expatriates. The Lebanese abroad cannot vote according to the current Law. They are known to be reluctant to Hezbollah and M8, especially for the ones that are in the Americas. Silencing them in this way seems very efficient strategy to avoid any kind of bad surprises.
“A better Law”. M8 introduced the women’s quota, PR and lots of other innovations. They are counting on the support of activists for the law to pass, or at least to make M14 to look undemocratic in their efforts to turn the drafted law down.
The Constituencies’ Decoupage. In PR, the constituencies sizes (more…)
Youssef Bey Karam
Whenever in my childhood I had to change my name in a game, I usually used the pseudonym of Youssef Bey Karam.
That’s what a friend told me, a couple of weeks ago. Youssef Bey Karam is a paragon. He is considered by many to have led the struggle against the Turks. He is by far an independence symbol, and was always viewed as the defender of the Christians in the events of 1860.
If you go back in time, back to 1861, and ask the people of Zahleh what they think of this hero, the answer will be trenchant and limpid: He sold us out. (more…)
One Of Pavlov’s Dogs
We observed that, after several repetitions of the combined stimulation, the sounds of the metronome had acquired the property of stimulating salivary secretion – Ivan Pavlov
What did Pavlov do? He brought a dog , and rang the bell each time he gave it food. Eventually, the dog salivated when you rang the bell, even if there wasn’t food. That’s exactly what happening today in Lebanon; A conditioned response: An automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.
ما طار طير وارتفع الا كما طار وقع (What goes up must come down in the same way it initially went up)
Army members take down a Sheikh in Akkar. Demonstrations break in Ak (more…)
Fadi Karam
The results are out since yesterday. Fadi Karam, the LF candidate, won. The LF kept the seat in a caza under 14M’s control for 8 years now. But when I wrote a post a couple of days earlier about the subject, I missed something very important.
What does it really mean that the LF is facing the SSNP in Koura? Everyone would be surprised if the Shias of Nabatiyeh will have the choice to vote between the FM and the Baath. That’s exactly (more…)
One year before the 2013 General Elections, comes a by-election that might give an estimation of what will happen in the upcoming electoral fiesta. What the next days will bring is more than just a simple ballot casting.
Moulahazat 
You must be logged in to post a comment.