Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
(Originally published in An-Nahar on December 10, 2018) During the Civil War entertainment options were limited. There was no ABC mall, no Bikfaya peach festival, no Marina, no Achrafieh 2020 carless roads, no organic market in Beirut Souks … no Beirut Souks, period. No Sky Bar or Music Hall or Rodge. As teenagers, Espace 2000 was [...]
Dan Azzi
(Originally published in An-Nahar December 3, 2019) I had dinner the other day with a senior British ambassador to the GCC. We got to talking and I affectionately mentioned a young diplomat who became very popular after his farewell letter to the Lebanese people. And here’s where he surprised me. He was quite negative about his colleague [...]
Dan Azzi
[This article was originally published in An-Nahar November 25, 2018] BEIRUT: Last week we received a cable from President Donald J. Trump, congratulating Lebanon on its Independence. Local analysts poured over the 38 words, searching for some major policy shift or statement of support. The following is a dramatization of this [...]
Dan Azzi
(Originally published in An-Nahar November 12, 2018) I was out in a bar the other day. My friends were drinking heavily, unlike me, because last time I got drunk, I woke up the next day married. This affliction curses me with being alert and aware of other people’s actions, while they unwind and loosen up. So they were having massive [...]
Dan Azzi
(First published in An-Nahar Nov 9, 2018) Last week, a Halloween party by a group of American University of Beirut students was canceled. The party was titled “Queer Mixer / Speed Dating Night.” After some significant verbal and physical harassment, the students released a communiqué stating that the decision was because their “safety [...]
Dan Azzi
(First published in An-Nahar October 30, 2018) A couple of years ago a major political party had a monumental change of leadership. Mind you, this wasn’t due to an expiration of his term limit, because of a clause in the party’s constitution. In typical Lebanese fashion, this was because of the previous leader dying or moving to bigger [...]
Dan Azzi
(First published in An-Nahar October 22, 2018) “Remember, if you believe it, it’s not a lie.” George Costanza Most people don’t know that a tomato is actually a fruit not a vegetable. It took my attending a Botany course at AUB for me to learn this very useful tidbit of information, which comes in handy when I’m short cash and need to [...]
Dan Azzi
(Originally published in An-Nahar November 19, 2018) November 22, Any Year Dear Jiddo, You’ve been deceased for 30 years, but I’m hoping one day a time machine would deliver this urgent message. I pray it gets to you before you join the demonstration against the French mandate, 75 years ago. As we celebrate this day with the mandatory [...]
Dan Azzi
(First published in An-Nahar Oct 13, 2018) I was a kid in a small town, Damour, and I’d hear about this terrible disease, when people would make the sign of the cross, whispering solemnly, “Flen has the disease whose name cannot be uttered. May Allah deliver us from it!” In fact, several people, with the complicity of the attending [...]
Dan Azzi
(Originally published in An-Nahar October 2018) Most so-called local economic reports read more like (bad) poetry, rather than providing actionable intelligence. One such report on real estate, from a few years ago, said: [...]
Dan Azzi
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