I apologize for the lack of posts since Wednesday as I am in the middle of a move from New York to California. Today I would like to go over a few important stories that have occurred in the last week. Ahmed Wali Karzai a Drug Dealer? – The New York Times ran an article […]
Here's an alarming thought: Pakistan is in even scarier shape than most of the so-called experts are willing to admit. This nuclear-armed state of 168 million is no stranger to political upheaval, of course. But this time, things are different. Today's ongoing crisis — marked by a rash of suicide bombings, the assassination of former […]
Palestinian officials are compiling a register of residents in the northern refugee camp of Baddawi to crack down on Islamist militants and to prevent unrest, one of them said on Saturday. “Rumors have spread concerning the presence of outlaws in Baddawi camp,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “As a result Palestinian faction […]
I was already late to dinner, so I decided to take a taxi from the street. Not surprisingly, I got caught in a traffic jam. Oh well. Beirut at night. The driver starts telling me about Lebanese women. I said they are beautiful. He disagreed. Actually, he said that maybe 20% have beautiful features, but […]
A joint session of parliament in Islamabad has heard, in camera, the newly-appointed ISI Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha ‚ who was Director General Military Operations (DGMO) before he got the job ‚ on the terrorist threat facing Pakistan and the army's operations to thwart the terrorists. The briefing has made it clear […]
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun will make an official visit to Tehran on Sunday for meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior officials. … During the visit, the first ever by Aoun to Tehran, a ceremony will be held in his honor, the daily As Safir said Friday. It said Aoun […]
When I am outside Lebanon following the political trends, I do it, thinking that X event or Y incident is going to have an impact. Truth is that nothing thus far had a meaningful impact on the system as a whole. I feel Lebanon is kind of a hopeless case… People were assassinated and for […]
The BBC's Julia Wheeler sounds an optimistic note on the Gulf economies in these tough times. All I have to say is, knock on wood.
Human Rights Watch released a report yesterday calling on the Jordanian government to address the widespread practice of torture in its prisons. (Link is to HRW press release; read the full 95-page report here or go to the LA Times summary here). Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East Director, says that the mechanisms in place […]
Lebanon seeks a legal ruling declaring hummus Lebanese and demanding Israel repay the country for decades of lost revenue for Lebanon by marketing hummus as an Israeli product. Apparently Greece once won a similar case against France over feta cheese. David Kenner at the FP thinks it won't win the government any points; we will […]
Whatever progress or lack threof has been made in Zimbabwe's politicl negotiatons, the country's economic crisis continues unabated. The inflation rate, cartoonish for years, is now estimated to be (and estimates are really al that are plausible when the numbers get this high this fast) an eye-poppingly incomprehensible 231-million percent. That is 231,000,000% for those of you […]
Amal Suleiman Afifi is now Egypt's first female marriage clerk. In response to the assertion that men may resign to protest her appointment, she said “there are many qualified women to take their places.”
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