Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
(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
(Originally published in An-Nahar September 2018) When Judgment Day for our country arrives, and it’s very close, the results will be cataclysmic and painful, but we should stand ready to exploit this and unleash Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction process. BEIRUT: Last week, a state of apprehension proliferated in the economic and banking [...]
Dan Azzi
Actual Message sent September 14, 2017, from the US Consulate in Beirut to its citizens: Due to ongoing threats to locations such as the Casino Du Liban in Jounieh, Lebanon, the US Embassy in Beirut has barred any movement of US government staff to that Casino. As always, the U.S. Embassy will continue to evaluate the movements of its [...]
Dan Azzi
When you think of wars, to most people they seem so theoretical, so academic, so “high school history.” Like when you’re walking through the ruins in Rome and being told about Roman history and its vast empire. Like when you’re walking through a tour of Gettysburg and being shown where General Lee was applying his brilliant tactics [...]
Dan Azzi
If you want to understand Lebanese culture, you can start by examining some of the idioms. Let’s look at the term “nouveau riche” which, in Lebanon, is a derogatory term, meaning someone who is recently wealthy, as opposed to inherited wealth, and therefore does not behave properly like people who are accustomed to wealth. The [...]
Dan Azzi
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