You, me, everybody

Fools. Internet (and blogging in particular) is of course a tremendous opportunity to express and share ideas and perspectives. However, despite all the media hypes, neither me, nor you, nor any other of the bits and bytes of the entire cyberspace define what's high on the world agenda. My question for the end of the year is: who do you think was the person of 2006?

Here are my answers:

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Like him or not, he is one of the most influential leaders of the Middle East and the entire Islamic world, and probably the most charismatic person of our days (after Fidel Castro and late John Paul II).

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria, the new president of Chile. A Socialist woman and a former victim of the Pinochet military junta.

I would like to remember that Augusto Pinochet Ugarte and Oriana Fallaci finally died this year, so 2006 wasn't so bad after all.

Early Italian takeover of UNIFIL?

Italian deputy minister of defense Marco Verzaschi said that Italy could take over the command of UNIFIL a few weeks earlier than originally scheduled. According to AFP, ANSA and Italian daily La Repubblica, the United Nations may consider January 24 (instead of February 19) as the date of takeover because of alleged "differences" of opinion between French M-Gén. Alain Pellegrini and his staff.

Amr Moussa's special Beirut Eggnog recipe

Gently whisk 19 neatly trimmed parts of March 14 in a plush downtown hotel, add two cups of Leo Burnett and a tablespoon of Saatchi&Saatchi, and let the mixture chill for a while until it's light and fluffy.

In a large downtown square, stir 10 parts of partly skimmed, heated March 8 and an additional pinch of seasoning if you like it extra-spicy. Remove from heat just before boiling point.

Gently and a little at a time, pour the March 8 mixture into the March 14 mixture while continuing to whisk in order to avoid the formation of lumps. Use barbed wire to strain the mixture if necessary.

Add 1 part of independent vanilla essence as thickening agent and ladle into outrageously expensive Patchi cups. Decorate with caramelized clerical blessings and a branch of cedar tree on top.

(For those who wonder what this means, al-Manar reports that the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar published on December 21 the text of the initiative of the Arab League Secretary, Amr Moussa. The proposal includes the expansion of the cabinet up to 30 ministries. The supposed sharing formula would allocate 19 seats to the March 14 bloc (one short of the 2/3 majority) and 10 seats to the March 8 opposition bloc (one short of the 1/3 blocking minority), whereas the last crucial seat should be occupied by an independent personality, agreed upon by both sides. It isn't clear yet who this person could be, how he/she would be selected, and how he/she could maintain his/her integrity and mental fitness under so many foreseeable contrasting pressures.)

Enjoy your eggnog.

Instant quiz

In country A, less than one percent of the population is eligible to vote. Those (actually 7,000) who have the right to go to the polls have been cherrypicked by the ruling establishment in order to ensure that the election results do not alter the existing political and social status quo.

In country B, 46.5 million of people (men and women alike) have exercised their right of vote in national and local elections.

Question: which country is hailed as "free" and "democratic"?

When will you become Lebanese?

"The Lebanon", The Human League

(Thanks Vikingur)



She dreams of 1969
Before the soldiers came
The life was cheap on bread and wine
And sharing meant no shame
She is awakened by the screams
Of rockets flying from nearby
And scared she clings onto her dreams
To beat the fear that she might die

And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon

Before he leaves the camp he stops
He scans the world outside
And where there used to be some shops
Is where the snipers sometimes hide
He left his home the week before
He thought he'd be like the police
But now he finds he is at war
Weren't we supposed to keep the peace?

And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon

I must be dreaming
It can't be true
I must be dreaming
It can't be true

And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone?
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon

Olmert's embarrassing week

To have nuclear weapons... as Israel

First came this interview on Sat.1 where Israeli PM Ehud Olmert apparently unveils that Israel has a nuclear arsenal. This has been an open secret for decades, despite the Israeli policy called עמימות ('amimut, "opacity") and consisting in a deliberate ambiguity on the matter.

Then there was this footage aired by Israeli station Channel 10. Olmert is seen coaching his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi about what to say at a joint press conference. Olmert tells Prodi to mention that the Palestinian cabinet should recognize Israel and asks the Italian PM to stress that Israel should remain "a Jewish state". This is a quite obvious reference against the "right of return" of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their original homeland, which would alter the Jewish ethnic-religious supremacy within Israel. A nice slap in the face to the old-fashioned liberal idea that all citizens should be equal before the law irrespective of their ethnic background or of their religious credo. Prodi cheerful obeyed.

(Update, January 21: This is the video.

I prefer not to post any additional comment.)

Fatfatism

Fatfatism (الفتفتية, al-fatfatiyyah) is a neologism coined by flamboyant professor As'ad Abu Khalil to mock and ridicule Lebanon's current minister of interior/home affairs Ahmad Fatfat, one of whose greatest accomplishments was to let the Internal Security Forces serve tea to Israeli occupation troops in Marj'uyun, Southern Lebanon in last August. It isn't clear yet if the Israeli occupation troops had their tea ma' sukkar aw bala sukkar (with or without sugar).
The fact is remembered by the protestors in downtown Beirut through the chant احمد فتفت يا قابدي واحد قهوة واثنان شاي(Ahmad Fatfat ya qabaday wahid qahwa wa ithnin shay, which translates as "Ahmad Fatfat, you tough guy, one coffee and two teas").

According to Abu Khalil,

[Fatfatism] requires no commitment to principles; it merely adjusts to the interests of the political status of Ahmad Fatfat. The ideology contains contradictions: it speaks of democracy and 'liberalism' and yet cultivates support among Bin Laden supporters in North Lebanon and serves as a client for Saudi Wahhabism; it speaks in favor of 'sovereignty' and 'independence' while it faithfully represented the interests of the tyrannical Syrian regime, and now represents the external patrons of Sanyurah. The ideology of Fatfatism believes that the most effective way for fighting foreign occupation is serving tea to the occupation soldiers. While it is widely believed that Fatfatism is a Lebanese phenomenon, it is now noticed that Fatfatism is spreading in countries in the Middle East and well beyond the Middle East.

Abu Khalil's satire was promptly rebounced on several Lebanese media and on Wikipedia, where an anonymous contributor in the mood for irony wrote an entry on Fatfatism. The page was speedily deleted after and subsequently locked. It is interesting to note the coincidence of the timing of this deletion with some comments left on Abu Khalil's blog by a Wikipedia user and administrator (or some vilain impersonating him). These comments (basically a list of anti-Arab ethnic slurs and Islamophobic rants and a few threats that people with different opinions will be banned and "expunged from Wikipedia") raise further concern over Wikipedia's alleged "neutral point of view" and reliability, especially if you ponder the strong pro-Israeli, anti-Islamic position that is clearly evident in many Middle East-related entries.

"Lebanese" gay porn movie is released

Among one Israeli aggression and the next one, with a sectarian conflict in the making and a collapsing economy on the background, this is exactly what Lebanon was in dire need of: a gay porn movie, allegedly shot entirely on location.

If you are interested in the topic and if you are over legal age and if you don't live in places such as Saudi Arabia or Utah, you will easily find additional information about this pièce of cinematography, entitled Lebanon: Collin O'Neal's World of Men.

Now, for all of us who have been occasionally harassed because of their non-professional cameras, it is slightly discouraging to know that you are not allowed to take a picture of Byblos fishing harbour because of security reasons, yet someone manages to film an all-male threesome sequence a few kilometers from there.

I'm not sure I want to see what happens when this story hits the headlines in Lebanon. I expect an unanimous chorus of utter disgust, predictably with a good handful of pious clerics of all denominations and sects united in preaching against the "Zionist-American" (alternatively, "secularist") conspiracy to corrupt Lebanese young men through "sexual deviance" and "shameful debauchery". And then people will flock at the nearest Internet cafés (where porn, indeed including gay sex sites, is one of the main staples) to watch the image galleries: you never know if the bulky son of the greengrocer at the corner is one of the movie stars.

Most hilarious will be the contempt of the Lebanese elites who crave for everything foreign. After all, with such sex flick among its credentials, Lebanon will now be really like US and France.

Shi'a party wins Bahrain election

Hezbollah, FPM bounce back

The Lebanese opposition groups (including Hezbollah, Amal, the Free Patriotic Movement and Suleyman Franjieh's Marada) have staged a massive rally in downtown Beirut, vowing to maintain a sit-in in front of the Grand Serail building (which hosts the prime minister offices) until the cabinet resigns and a new national unity government is formed.
Much has been said about this gathering. It is even tedious to remark how the manifestations are described as a sign of "freedom" and "sovereignty" if they belong to one political camp, and a "threat" to the government and even a possible attempted coup if they belong to the other one.

The following images make Brent Sadler, Ghassan bin Jiddo and a dozen of other correspondents feel lost. Weren't those Hezbollah guys supposed to establish Téhéran-sur-Mer overnight?

Rock chicks

Nice tattoo

Asian Games opening ceremony in Doha

The 15th Asian Games have been inaugurated today in Doha, Qatar. Despite unexpected heavy wind and rain, the ceremony was impressive and at times quite touching.

Peace be upon you

The handsome guy lighting the cauldron is shaykh Mohamed ibn Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, one of the sons of Qatar's ruler, prince Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani.