“Pretend elections in Iran?”

That’s what Thomas Friedman, in Beirut to cover the comparatively ”free and fair”  Lebanese elections, claims.   (In addition to making  several other totally unsubstantiated statements).   But this is  definitely not what Fahmy Howedi  has to say (see below post) about the same Iranian elections.    I look forward to comments on Friedman’s article from among others, the Angry [...]

New Nominations at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

A UN press release from earlier this week announced the latest bench and defense nominations at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. We’d written a few weeks ago here at Media Shack about speculation that Antonio Cassese would be appointed presiding judge. The press release confirms this, and adds that the pre-trial judge will be Daniel [...]

Blog Recommendation: Qifa Nabki

There’s a new blog on Lebanon that I’ve been following for a while now and want to recommend.  It’s called  Qifa_Nabki and features frequent posts and deep analysis of Lebanese politics based on Arabic language sources.   MediaShack readers should check this site out.

“Umm…the Dog Ate my Agenda”

Editor’s Note: Yes, we know that the font’s messed up.  Blame wordpress for not allowing a simple copy and paste from a word document. Not Rob.
Last year, Syria and Lebanon finally agreed to establish diplomatic ties.  The decision was hailed as a political breakthrough, with significant credit given to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his [...]

The Judges of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Blackstar, Esq,  MediaShack’s Legal Analyst, continues her coverage of the Lebanese Special Tribunal.
Naharnet and Al Mustaqbal report today that Justice Antonio Cassese, has  been appointed presiding judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.   Justice Cassese was the former presiding judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and one of the most [...]

Update on Russian MiG donation to Lebanon

A few months ago, Rob and I discussed Russia donating  10 MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon (read here and here).  The cost of maintenance was back then considered a serious issue  for (and probably by) the Lebanese government.  As it turns out, so too it was for the Russian government.
Russia has apparently failed to invest [...]

Bringing the Shia into the Fold?

Yesterday both Blackstar  and Abu_Muqawama  posted on the UK’s attempt to open up lines of communication with Hezbollah. I don’t think its signifigant and I participated in a long 91 comment discussion at Mr. Muqawama’s site which was quite good until about the last 40 when the whackjobism of a few individuals……
Anyway, speaking of Hezbollah, I recommend [...]

Talking to Hezbollah

The Obama administration seems to have ushered in a welcome wind of change (well, for now).  The British government this week has announced that it is opening up talks with low-level officials from Hezbollah’s political wing. The UK had cut off all ties with both the military and political wings of the party in 2005, [...]

Why the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was Created (Part I) Rafiq el Hariri: Why the Big Fuss?

Note: This post is the first part in a series explaining why the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which opened its doors on March 1, 2009, was created. Today’s post explains why Rafiq el Hariri was such an important personality on the national, regional and international scenes. Check back in the next few days for a [...]

Lebanese Justice, Dutch-Style

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon opened its doors to the world yesterday.   After a tedious investigation which has lasted for the past 4 years, Daniel Bellemare, the last head of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) and now Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal, has moved along with his team to The Hague, where [...]

Traffic Week: On Automotive Darwinism

If you’ve lived in the West long enough, you’re sure to have participated at some point or other in conversations about who’s traveled to the scariest driving country. This usually comes up as something of a feat of strength along the lines of: “I survived a taxi ride in Cairo, I can survive any kind [...]

Political Posters in Lebanon

For those interested in the nexus between the visual arts and politics, an interesting new publication is being featured in the book review sections of many magazines and newspapers. “Off the Wall” by  Zeina Maasri is a compilation of the political posters  that graced the bullet-riddled walls of Lebanon during the Civil War and vied [...]

Catering to Carter

Granted I’m a little late, but I’ve finally gotten around to writing about something that was in the news last week and which I thought was important and interesting. Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center enjoys considerable respect for its professionalism in election monitoring, visited Lebanon for four days last week. His main purpose was to [...]

Aoun’s Historic Visit to Damascus

Lebanese Christian leader Michele Aoun has just completed a historic trip to Damascus.  Aoun had already been  aligned with Hezbollah and Syria for at least … two years (?)  so the signifigance is that he actually visited Syria itself.    I don’t want to steal Blackstar’s thunder  so  here’s some  broad points I noticed in the media today: 
Not surprisingly, [...]

The Seven Villages

Most of us following Middle East news or Lebanon news know a few things about Hezbollah: it emerged in the early 1980’s during the heyday of the Lebanese civil war; its external allies are Iran and Syria; it is likely the strongest and best-trained armed group in Lebanon right now, on par or surpassing the [...]

France Trying to Get “Back in the Game”

Editor’s Note:  Taking over the Lebanon desk at MediaShack will be Blackstar, an international lawyer based in London. 
French Prime Minister François Fillon is presently in Lebanon for a two-day visit with a full program of diplomatic activities. While his own office has described_the_trip as one aimed at helping the re-launching of economic life of Lebanon (Fillon [...]

Trends to watch in Egypt

I’ve been meaning to blog about specific articles on these topics but I keep procrastinating.  Here are a few trends  to watch out for in Egypt:
1) Gamal Mubarak vs Ahmed Azz:  Proving your Street Cred
Everyone assumes that Gamal is going to make a run at the Presidency, whenever that might happen.  To do so succesfully,  Mubarak [...]