Qifa Nabki
Latest Post
Muhanna Commentary on Wissam al-Hassan for NYT, Guardian
I’ve written a piece about the complicated legacy of Wissam al-Hassan for the NY Times global opinion page. I had written an alternative ending for the piece that didn’t make it in because of time constraints, but I’ll work it up into a new post and maybe publish it tomorrow. Also, here’s something I taped for The … Continue reading
Recent Posts
The news is still trickling out about the bombing today in Beirut, but all media outlets are now confirming that the target was Brigadier-General Wissam al-Hassan, the head of the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces. I’ve written a great deal about Wissam al-Hassan over the past few years and will have more to … Continue reading
A car bomb has exploded in Sassine Square, in the Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh. I will be posting updates to this page as they become available. Comments, especially from QN readers based in Beirut, are welcomed below. In the meantime, check out the following resources: CNN’s live blog of the blast AlJazeera’s live blog Twitter … Continue reading
Sincere apologies for neglecting you all for the past couple weeks, but it seems that you’ve gotten along in the comment section very happily without me. Thanks for a great debate about Syria, and thanks to Camille for sharpening his knives and joining in. There are a million things to talk about and I have lots … Continue reading
I recorded another segment with Camille Otrakji for Bloggingheads about Syria. Some of you may remember the first conversation we had last year, and the interview I did with Camille (which generated 724 comments). In this discussion, we look at the deepening conflict and what — if anything — can be done to bring the … Continue reading
My working paper for Stanford University’s Program on Arab Reform and Democracy has just been published. Those who have been following this blog for a while know that bicameralism is a longstanding interest of mine, and I’m grateful to Lina Khatib for giving me the opportunity to spend some time fleshing out my ideas in … Continue reading
Here’s a quick postmortem I’ve written for Al-Monitor on the very strange news of former minister Michel Samaha’s detainment yesterday by Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces. First paragraphs below, then much more after the jump. Three Reasons Why Syria’s Man in Lebanon Was Arrested (Al-Monitor) What to make of today’s arrest of former Lebanese minister Michel … Continue reading
Al-Akhbar has published an article of mine about the Assad regime’s relations with the West and its foreign policy objectives, as revealed by the original WikiLeaks cache of US diplomatic cables. Needless to say, this article is a response of sorts to Amal Saad-Ghorayeb’s multi-part series which argues that Arab intellectuals should support Assad because … Continue reading
We’re a year away from the next Lebanese parliamentary elections, and there has been no final agreement on the proposed reforms for the next electoral law. Proportional representation seems to be dead in the water. Expatriate voting in overseas embassies may also be a pipe dream at this late stage, and the same goes for … Continue reading
Notes & Readings
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And the people say...