May 30, 2008
'Stupidity is a Strategy' - 03:11 AMThe press is all aflutter with the release of Scott McClellan's new book, What Happened, wherein he basically admits that the Bush administration directed him to lie through his teeth about just about everything. In the opinion of Howard Kurtz...
May 27, 2008
'The New Order' - 02:09 AMSo Doha has birthed a new order in Lebanon, and Lebanese of all stripes are in a celebratory mood these past few days. I hit downtown on Wednesday as they were disassembling the opposition sit-in that had been there since...
May 14, 2008
'Some Clarifications' - 06:36 AMThings are quiet around the country today as everyone is holding their breath waiting to see if the Arab League can pull a bright shiny political solution from behind Lebanon's ear. In the lull, and if they can't reach a...
'Tripoli Clashes' - 03:48 AM
This is a little late, but I was looking for a good map of Tripoli I could use to mark out the clashes that have occured there recently, similar to my Chouf map, and couldn't find one. Luckily, BeirutSpring is...
May 12, 2008
'The Information Age' - 08:15 AMI'm in the office right now (for those who don't know, I'm an actually employed journalist working in Beirut - hi!) and I'm amazed at how this job works sometimes. My colleague is working on a story on the "Shia...
'Map of Chouf Battles' - 08:00 AM
Okay, below the fold is a map of the Chouf, showing Beirut and the surrounding area for reference. Major fighting occured around the towns circled in blue. Click the map for the full size version....
'Ruminations on Strategy' - 06:06 AM
The big question for me over the past day or two has been: what is Hezbollah doing? I mean, we have a pretty good idea of what they're doing, but why are they doing it? After the government's climb down...
May 11, 2008
'Hezbollah Vincible After All?' - 04:25 PMMost of the fighting in the Chouf appears to have died down, and I was able to talk to my friend in Aley as he returned from the front. I had been seeing this as another big setback for March...
'Clashes Continuing' - 11:54 AM
Okay, so quick immediate update (after months of nothing happening, now everything happens so fast even a blog post is obsolete by the time it's posted). Clashes are continuing in the Druze areas despite calls for a ceasefire. It's not...
'Battle for the Chouf' - 10:51 AM
Walid Jumblatt has urged his supporters to stand down in the Chouf, which means he's told them to stand down completely. PSP (and possibly rival Arslan-clan, there's mixed reporting) offices are to be handed over to the Lebanese army. I...
May 10, 2008
'Climb down' - 10:29 AMOkay, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora announced today that that "The two decisions of the government have not yet been decreed, and will be left to the discretion of the army." Those decisions were calling Hezbollah's communications network illegal, and removing...
'Now What?' - 10:25 AM
So Hezbollah controls West Beirut, and the government has so far refused to either give up and/or resign or to take steps to drive them out. Driving them out will not be easy; not only because Hezbollah outguns them and...
'What now?' - 09:30 AM
So Hezbollah controls West Beirut, and the government has so far refused to either give up and/or resign or to take steps to drive them out. Driving them out will not be easy; not only because Hezbollah outguns them and...
May 09, 2008
'Lebanon: Explainer' - 08:15 AMSo, a quick run down of who is what in Lebanon right now, for those people who are completely lost. This is very, very simplified and I haven't gone into the histories and etc. This is just to give you...
'Hezbollah Takes West Beirut' - 07:40 AM
A violent storm pounded Beirut late last night, with flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, and torrential rain. I woke up this morning to continued, if light, rain on my balcony, and for a brief bleary moment entertained the idea...