Even if independent candidates don’t win big on election day, they are already having an impact on Lebanese political culture. They have introduced new styles of campaigning that come as a sharp contrast to how politics is commonly practiced in Lebanon. While establishment politicians deploy …
The 2015 Paris attacks will be remembered as one of the most widely covered tragedies of the year, but they may also stand out for the mainstream media’s wide-ranging reaction to massive critiques of its coverage. I look at how the post-attack reactions and rebuttals affect …
“I don’t mind sitting here,” I told the Hezbollah guard who kept watch over us in a run-down prefabricated portable office. “But I haven’t eaten all day and I’m hungry,” I added, not knowing it was already 10PM. “Tell me, what do you want to …
There has been much fanfare about the removal of political signs and posters from Beirut, as part of a reported reconciliation deal between the parties/militias/old men that run this country. I have to admit, I was surprised to see the decades-old Amal mural painted over …
Israeli TV is on all Lebanese channels as we wait for Israel’s expected response to an attack on one of its convoys in South Lebanon. Hezbollah is saying the attack is retaliation for the killing of several of its men a week ago by Israeli …
I recently stumbled upon a familiar sight at a Middle Eastern art exhibit in Chelsea, New York. It was a view anyone living in Lebanon during the 2006 war may have seen. The piece by Ali Cherri was projected on the wall at the center …
Lebanese president Michel Sleiman left office today, but his presidency will linger a while longer in billboards erected across the highway. The sign above literally reads: “You entered big and you leave big.” Yet technically speaking Sleiman leaves office much like his predecessor did six …
At least six people were reported killed in today’s bomb in Bir Hassan, near South Beirut. As usual, scores of people were injured and dozens of shops destroyed. One of the stores that was completely blown away was Rammal electronics, which quickly strung up a …
A day after the car bombing that killed four people in Hermel, Al Manar TV reported live from a candlelight vigil near the scene of the blast. As the reporter appeared on camera the crowd behind him was chanting for praise for Hezbollah with the …
Photo: Now Lebanon The partially burnt ID papers allegedly belonging to a suicide bomber have emerged as the key piece of evidence in last week’s Haret Hreik explosion in south Beirut. But MP Khaled Daher held a press conference today mocking the discovery as fantastical. …