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Dan Azzi

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?


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Till Death Do Us Part

[This article was first published in An-Nahar in April 2019. This is a work of fiction. Any similarities between actual wives and events is purely coincidental] We were young. We were poor. We fell in love. We got married. We had two beautiful children. We rose up the socioeconomic ladder. We went on phenomenal vacations. We saw the [...]

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Welcome to Lebanon Carlos-San

[This article was originally published in An-Nahar on December 31, 2019] Let’s say a certain hugely successful Lebanese automotive executive ran into legal troubles in a country which has an usually convoluted judicial system, which tends towards “guilty until proven innocent.” Staying back to fight and salvage his international [...]

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The Dollar Crisis

[This article was originally published in An-Nahar September 22, 2019] It’s pretty clear that we’re now in an urgent race, like being on a treadmill, whose speed keeps accelerating, but has no off-switch. No matter how tough and fit you are, eventually you’ll have to stop running … unlike the treadmill, which keeps going. You can [...]

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The devaluation of the Lebanese Dollar

[This article was first published in An-Nahar in July 2019] I know what you’re thinking — my editor missed a typo and the title should be “Devaluation of the Lebanese Lira.” It’s pretty clear, with the balance of payment (BoP) deficit (binging on imports, i.e. US dollars leaking outside the country month after month); that we’re heading [...]

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Where’s my damn money?

[First published in An-Nahar and Yerepouni News on July 14, 2019] BEIRUT: “… We have a new product for deposits with a minimum of $20 million, paying a 14% annual rate … but now we’re opening this great offer for the general population at much smaller amounts, but only for dollars coming from outside Lebanon …. We put your money with the [...]

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An Explosive Time at a Beirut Nightclub

(Originally published in An-Nahar June 16, 2019, 14 months before the Port Explosion) There’s no question that our nightlife is one of the best in the world, and, having been to 80 countries, I can authoritatively make that claim. Obviously, you usually go to these joints at night, where the darkness and lighting add to the trendy design [...]

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The Painting

[This article was first published in An-Nahar on May 29, 2019] It was a blotch that literally looked like someone had dipped a brush in red paint and splashed the empty canvas, then with orange, and finally some black — an explosion of random colors, aka modern art. I’m no expert, but the whole thing would take my five-year-old kid three [...]

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Exorbitant Privilege

[This article was originally published in An-Nahar on February 2, 2019] The United States buys a Japanese Toyota, German BMW, Korean Kia, or Chinese Dongfeng, made of steel, leather, glass, computer chips, engines, and significant workmanship and design. They pay using pieces of paper (water-proof cotton, to be precise); with “In God We [...]

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Then and Now

(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 [...]

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