28 Monday May 2012
Tags
Asbestos, Hazardous waste, Health and Safety in Lebanon, Lebanese government, lebanon, Occupational safety and health
As if the Lebanese government is in short of methods of how to kill its own people. Every now and then, we get either environmental disasters like dumping hazardous waste in the ecosystem or health disasters like having to deal with corrupted food.
24 Thursday May 2012
Posted in LB Politics, LB Social, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Press
While reading Al-Akhbar English website, I was faced with Israeli adverts near the target article. It was a bit of shock for me, but fun at the same time.
22 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Lebanon
Tags
Bab Al-Tabbaneh, Beirut, Clashes, Future Movement, Jabal Mohsen, Lebanese Civil War, Lebanese War, lebanon, March 14, Saad Hariri, Tarik Al-Jadideh, Tripoli
Within a matter of days, the Hariri’s Future Movement has shifted its rhetoric from the injustice the Lebanese people live in due to the control of Hezbollah, to the injustice and “persecution” – as Mohammad Salam put it – the Sunni sect is facing.
16 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in MB Social, Media Monitoring, MicroBlogs, The rest of the world, TV, USA, World
Tags
BBC World Service, European Union, Foreign Policy, GlobeScan, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Program on International Policy Attitudes, Tv
Can you compile a list of the top four and bottom four countries which had respectively positive and negative influence over the world?
Of course, I have my own list in mind, but funnily enough I have a similar one here compiled from a recent 22-county poll conducted by GlobeScan (an international opinion research consultancy) and the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland – Program on International Policy Attitudes.
11 Friday May 2012
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues
Tags
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Amr Moussa, Egypt, Egyptian Eletions, Google Maps, Iran, Muslim Brotherhood, Presidential Debate, Yosri Fouda, YouTube
You might have followed yesterday, like most people I follow on social media, the first live presidential debate in Egypt between the former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady and former Secretary General of Arab League and Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.
08 Tuesday May 2012
Tags
Al-Qaeda, Edmund Heddad, Freedom, Haifa Wehbe, Humour, lebanon, Maya Diab, Satire, Superman Underwear, Terrorism
Credible defense sources informed Lebanon Spring blog that a major security agreement is underway between the governments of Lebanon and the United States of America.
The security agreement will foster close relations between the armed forces of both countries while combating terrorist or comedian bombs. The sources confirmed that the two countries will specifically focus their efforts on underwear after their major known breakthroughs in this field.
07 Monday May 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Politics
There is a lot of talk now in Lebanon about the Proportional Representation (PR) elections system, and whether to adopt an election system based on it in the next general elections 2013.
The idea is being faced with mixed stances from the different parties, with a main opposition from Walid Jumblatt. One thing is sure about Proportional Representational system that it is a fairer system that represents parties according to their “proportion” and gives access to parliament to the smaller parties and independents.
I wanted to see how the parliament would look like in 2013 if a PR system was adopted, so I have done a small study based on the 2009 elections results.
06 Sunday May 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Politics
“I come before you today to urge you to be true to America’s nature, to aid those aspiring to freedom, to strike a blow to terrorism [...] the genuine nature of the Lebanese people is reflected in their love for freedom and their affection towards America; and the genuine nature of America is reflected in its support of those who seek freedom [...] We have never lost faith – and we never will – that our natural allies in the free world will finally see (the Lebanese struggle with Syria) for what it truly is: a fight for freedom against terrorism and oppression.” General Michel Aoun – September 2003 – In the United States Congress for the Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. Continue reading »
05 Saturday May 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, TV
Tags
Journalism, Lebanese Journalism, Lebanese Media, lebanon, Non-governmental organization, Unbiased Media Campaign in Lebanon, Walid Jumblatt
Lebanon cherishes its freedom of speech and media, but I don’t feel I am exaggerating if I describe the Lebanese media as a plague which contribute to sectarianism and political void. I tend to come out with a headache or food ingestion when I watch their news.
Of course media can be politicised, but it’s done the wrong way in Lebanon. All sides are on high alert as if they are fighting a war, and the media is one of the weapons and ramparts at the same time.Lebanese media are directed by its political patronage, sectarian inclinations or just urge to show their politicians views with no real substance, reform agenda or impartiality.
01 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in LB Culture, LB Social, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Social Media
Tags
arab spring, Blog First Birthday, Blog One Year Old, Blog Statistics, Blogging, First Post, Lebanese Blogging, Lebanese Blogosphere, Lebanon Spring, Statistics
Today, Lebanon Spring blog is one year old, so I will allow for this post to be slightly personal; it’s about me and my blog.
23 Monday Apr 2012
Posted in LB Culture, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Social Media
Tags
Beirut, Holiday, lebanon, Lebanon beaches, Lebanon Ski, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, Middle East Airlines, Propaganda, Satire, Ski, Travel
I can’t believe we still preach this tourist propaganda in 2012: “Lebanon is the only country in the world, where you can ski on the mountains in the morning and swim in the Mediterranean in the afternoon”.
21 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Caricature of the day, MB Politics, MicroBlogs, Politics
Tags
Al Khalifa family, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit, Bernie Ecclestone, F1, Formula One, Grand Prix, Peter Brooks
Bernie Ecclestone does not see what the fuss is about with the formula One Grand Prix tomorrow in Bahrain, insisting that the unrest in the country “has nothing to do with them“.
Of course, it’s related to the regime crackdown on the uprising, and the widespread human right violations attached to it. A massive protest took place yesterday against the F1 event.
19 Thursday Apr 2012
Posted in Caricature of the day, MB Politics, MicroBlogs
Tags
Al-Hayat, Arab League, Benjamin Netanyahu, Democracy in the Middle East, Israel, Middle East, syria
It’s been a while that I have not posted selected caricatures from the press, so I decided to post two today!
The first is from the London-based daily Al-Hayat, commenting on Netanyahu’s statement of Israel being “the only democracy in the Middle East”.
18 Wednesday Apr 2012
This is how organised corruption works in Lebanon: you get the Public Works Ministry to contract out cleaning part of the public beach to a contractor, with the main benefit going to some lucky connected developer owning the nearby sea-resort, while the sponsor of this contract gets paid out from selling the surplus of the beach sand, or the whole sand they extract and transport away.
15 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted in Media Monitoring, Politics, The rest of the world, USA, World
Tags
George W Bush, Iran, Iraq, Propaganda, Richard Gizbert, Saddam Hussein, Tony Blair, United States, Weapon of mass destruction, YouTube
In whatever way I try to read some Western commentary on Iran’s nuclear issue, I see Saddam Hussein, his Weapons of mass destruction programme (WMD) and the spin around it by George Bush and his administration.
Continue reading »
12 Thursday Apr 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Lebanon, Politics
Only 37 years on the start of the Lebanese civil war, and you feel it was like 370 years ago. It’s really evident how the Lebanese society has learnt from its history and mistakes to become developed, forward-thinking and tolerant.
04 Wednesday Apr 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Lebanon
Tags
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah, Huffington Post, Iran, lebanon, Middle East, syria, The Rise and Fall of Hezbollah
A cut version of this piece was published in The Huffington Post on 3rd April 2012. This is an extended version, which I chose to publish here. I hope they convey the same message!
Once considered to be one of the strongest non-state military factions in the entire Middle East, we are now witnessing the decline of Hezbollah. Though it may seem to be at the peak of its career of might, in reality the popularity of Hezbollah in the Arab world — the bedrock of its legitimacy outside its Shiite core — is at an all-time low.
29 Thursday Mar 2012
Posted in Foreign Policy, LB Politics, Politics
The last-month visit of the Speaker Nabih Berri to Cyprus to discuss the bilateral oil and gas issues showed how slow we are in responding to urgent national matters, how slack we are in forming our national foreign policies, and of course how careless we are in preserving and exploiting our national recourses.
28 Wednesday Mar 2012
Posted in LB Politics, LB Social, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Press
Tags
Blogging, Blogosphere, Censorship, Lebanese Blogosphere, Lebanese Internet Regulation Act, lebanon, LIRA, Press, Stop LIRA
There is no doubt the Lebanese blogosphere is united against the law-proposal of the Minister of Information Walid Daouk to regulate online websites in what has became known as LIRA (the Lebanese Internet Regulation Act).
22 Thursday Mar 2012
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues, Politics, Syria
Tags
There was a lot of talk recently on Hamas’ position on Syria. The position is almost available in the public domain now which is summed up as Hamas sympathizes with the internal legitimate demands of the Syrian people, and doesn’t tar the whole Syrian crisis with the ‘foreign conspiracy’ denial line as Hezbollah does.
Qassem Qassem in Al-Akhbar summed up both parties’ positions well, and he confirmed that: Continue reading »
15 Thursday Mar 2012
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Syria
Today the Syrian revolution is one year old, and the day is featuring a frenzy in the main and social media over the leaked emails of Bashar Al-Assad and his wife Asma Al-Akhrass, published yesterday by The Guardian. The emails were obtained by The Guardian via some activists who were monitoring the Assads email accounts since last year. The emails are full of luxurious shopping lists, iTune downloads, games, music, Harry Potter and other silly YouTube video links exchanged between the couple themselves and with others.
12 Monday Mar 2012
Posted in Arab World, MB Culture, MicroBlogs, Other Arab issues
And you thought there was nothing to blog about President Michel Sleiman’s visit to Qatar last week?
07 Wednesday Mar 2012
Posted in LB Politics, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Politics, Press, Syria
Tags
Al-Binaa, Baba Amr, Homs, lebanon, Propaganda, SANA, syria, Syrian Arab News Agency, Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Speaking of Syrian propaganda (or here, here and here), one can’t ignore the Lebanese propaganda that supports the Syrian one, which tends to be worse in employing zero logic while repeating the official Syrian line without any questioning.
05 Monday Mar 2012
Tags
Alon Liel, Bashar Al-Assad, Bruce Riedel, Foreign Policy, Golan Heights, Haaretz, Israel, Peace Talks, syria
When I read How Israel Could Remove Assad Diplomatically and Bring Peace to Syria, I thought it’s kind of science fiction. I thought Bruce Riedel, [another] veteran former CIA officer and senior fellow in the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, to be going the extra non-reasonable and non-needed mile. He was basically proposing to offer the Golan Heights back to Bashar Al-Assad as the carrot, in return for Assad moving on, and allowing a democratic post-Assad Syria to start and flourish, away from the influence of Iran and Hezbollah.
03 Saturday Mar 2012
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Media Monitoring, Politics, Syria, TV
Tags
Al-Alam Channel, Conspiracy, Propaganda, syria, Syrian TV, Tv
The theory goes like that: if you suspect a foreign conspiracy against your country, then the conspirators would be funding their locals agents with the foreign country’s currency. Well, this is at least what the Syrian TV and Iranian Al-Alam Channel think, who are in the same league with Addounia TV.
