November 29, 2008

Israeli analysts prepare next war against Lebanon

In the latest issue of its quarterly journal, Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) carries two (or three) articles debating in some depth whether-- in the event of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:56 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

July 16, 2008

Bushists fund Lebanon army; Lebanon embraces Hizbullah

Sometimes the sheer depth of the ignorance of the people directing the Bush administration's foreign policy manages, yet again, to amaze me. Evidently, the Bushists don't realize the gravity of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:34 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

July 12, 2008

France brokering Lebanon-Syria embassy deal

This is win-win-win all the way. The Lebanese people win by getting their national independence finally recognized by their Syrian neighbor. Syria wins by escaping both from the burden of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:25 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

Saad-Ghorayeb on the Israel-Hizbullah prisoner exchange

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb has a very important and insightful article on Open Democracy about the strategic implications of the Israel-Hizbullah prisoner swap deal....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:19 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 31, 2008

Quarantine Wall news, and an intriguing human story

It seems the recently negotiated prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hizbullah might start to be implemented as early as tomorrow, Sunday. The Israeli political system is, perhaps understandably, too...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:35 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

May 25, 2008

Congratulations, Lebanon!

My very best wishes to my Lebanese friends (and relatives), whose parliamentarians today succeeded in electing a president, former army commander Michel Suleiman, and in resolving the country's other immediately...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:38 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

May 17, 2008

Power shifts inside Lebanon: Some observations

My dear friend Rami Khouri has surveyed the chances of success of the current "Doha Round" of talks among Lebanon's leading politicians and concludes that "the real issue" is the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:18 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

May 15, 2008

From Taef to-- Doha?

As US officials deeply understand, there is considerable diplomatic kudos and power that attaches to being the ones that control (and elbow all others out of) key strands of Middle...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:38 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 13, 2008

Lebanon: The human cost of war

Rami Zuraik has yet another excellent post on his blog today. It is about the vulnerable and encircled small informal settlement in West Beirut in the area known as "Behind...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:54 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

May 12, 2008

Earth to GWB: The Lebanese Army isn't on your side any more!

So there was George Bush, telling the BBC today that he is willing to send US aid to the Lebanese Army... Doesn't he realize that, as I suggested here yesterday,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:26 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Prospects for Lebanon

Rami Khouri, a very astute observer, writes in Monday's Daily Star The consequences of what has happened in the past week may portend an extraordinary but constructive new development: the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:13 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

May 09, 2008

Great Beirut blogging from Rami Zuraik

If you want to know what's happening in the Ras Beirut/Manara area of Beirut, go check Rami Zuraik's excellent 'Land and People' blog. Though the wisdom he dispenses there is...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:07 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

February 13, 2008

Bush trying to entangle NATO allies in Lebanese strife?

I was trying to think through why the Bush White House and its Lebanese allies have been acting in such a provocative, escalatory way in Lebanon in recent weeks. There...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:52 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

Who is seeking to destabilize Lebanon?

Tomorrow is the third anniversary of the truck-bomb killing of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri. Quite understandably, many of those most horrified by that killing are planning large-scale marches to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:29 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

February 10, 2008

The story: Lebanon NOT consumed by civil war...

... so what's going on? This is a really interesting story, though most of the western ("If it bleeds, it leads") MSM haven't even started to notice it. But what's...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:06 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

January 19, 2008

Nasrullah taunts Israel over body parts

Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrullah's appearance before a massive crowd in south Beirut today had strong preliminary buzz to the effect that he was going to say something big. I think...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:37 AM | Fulltext link (29 comments)

Live-(t.v.)-blogging Hizbullah's Ashoura

Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:48 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Waiting for Nasrullah on Ashoura

I'm sitting here at 10:50 a.m. in Beirut watching Hizbullah's t.v. station, al-Manar, as it airs the big processions taking place in the southern suburbs to mark Ashoura, the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:36 AM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

January 18, 2008

Nir Rosen on the Nahr al-Bared events, etc

Just ten days or so ago I was sitting with Nir in the lobby of the Gefinor Rotana Hotel in Beirut-- and here is the piece he was crashing on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:31 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

January 11, 2008

Conference in Beirut; "justice"; cluster bombs

I was planning to do a series of blog posts from the big conference I went to early this week at the Al-Waleed bin Talal al-Saud Center for American Studies...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:55 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

January 08, 2008

Calm in Lebanon?

Lebanon does not have a president, and has only a caretaker government. The deadlock over how the next ruling coalition (president plus PM plus cabinet) is to be composed continues......
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:38 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

January 07, 2008

Watching Hizbullah TV

Another benefit of being here in Lebanon is being able to watch Hizbullah's TV station, al-Manar. I have only watched a little of it on this trip-- certainly, nothing like...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:46 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

January 01, 2008

UN officials stoking US belligerence toward Syria?

I've been reading quite a lot about Lebanon (and Syria) recently, because that's where I'm headed, for a short-ish trip, later this week. This piece in today's HaAretz caught my...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:03 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

December 18, 2007

Israeli strategic analysts on the 33-day war

I had a 3-hour-plus bus-ride this afternoon from Charlottesville to Washington DC, so I had a good chance to read the weighty study titled The Second Lebanon War: Strategic Perspectives...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:30 AM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

November 28, 2007

Saudi-Syrian deal gives Lebanon a President?

So it looks as though-- just as Pervez Musharraf has been stripping off his uniform in Pakistan-- in Lebanon Army Chief of Staff Michel Suleiman may be about to move...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:00 PM | Fulltext link (23 comments)

May 03, 2007

Sayed Hassan uses Winograd to blast Siniora

The ironies of the Middle East are rich indeed. On Wednesday, Hizbullah head Sayed Hassan Nasrallah praised the work of Israel's Winograd Commission, which on Tuesday issued an Interim Report...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:24 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

February 26, 2007

The passing of Joseph Samaha

I'm on the road. I arrived in Damascus from Amman by car about an hour ago. Now I'm settled in the Omayad Hotel which has wifi in the rooms. Great!...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:03 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

January 22, 2007

Released IDF documents reveal ethnic cleansing effort in South Lebanon

HaAretz's Amos Harel has an informative reconstruction of the decsionmaking last summer within the Israeli General Staff, over crucial aspects of the-- failed-- war against Hizbullah. This reconstruction gives a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:31 PM | Fulltext link (54 comments)

January 04, 2007

HRW on the Lebanese ambulance accusations

Back during the Israel-Hezbullah war, some websites-- and even the Australian Foreign Minister-- propagated accusations that reports published by Human Rights Watch and a number of media outlets that on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:26 AM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

December 10, 2006

Social diversity and nonviolence in Beirut

Numerous male commentators, looking at the Hizbullah protests in Lebanon-- and claiming they sought only to indicate either the seemingly "western" looks of some participants in the protests, or the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:03 PM | Fulltext link (55 comments)

November 21, 2006

Pierre Gemayyel killed

Yes, I know that young Pierre Genayyal was assassinated today in Beirut, and I send my condolences to his family. Huge kudos to his father, the former President Amin Gemayyel,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:48 PM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

November 18, 2006

My BR article on the 33-day war

It's finally here: The 33-Day War: Hizbullah’s victory, Israel’s choice, the piece I wrote back in late August/early September about the Israel-Hizbullah war. Yesterday I went over to BR's new...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:59 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

October 11, 2006

Pat Lang on the 33-day war

Pat Lang, who has forgotten more about the strategic realities of today's Middle East than most of us ever knew, has been consistently clearheaded in his analysis of the 33-day...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:32 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

September 24, 2006

Lebanese war; post-war; role of UNIFIL

Here's the short version of the 33-day war that wracked Lebanon and some of northern Israel this summer. On the morning of July 12, Hizbullah undertook two cross-border actions against...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:23 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

Nasrallah full text "we won"

Preface note: For the past several decades, the British and US governments, via the BBC and the former US Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) - now re-organized as the "open...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 09:00 AM | Fulltext link (32 comments)

September 22, 2006

Nasrallah appears; war-time casualty tolls

Nasrallah has now-- as forecast-- made a public appearance at the big Hizbullah rally in Beirut today. This, in open defiance of the many threats that Israeli political and military...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:08 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

September 13, 2006

Patrick Lang: "The Best Defense..."

On 9/11, the Miller Center at the University of Virginia featured a talk by Colonel Patrick Lang - who returned here by reputation as a voice of reason, experience, "independence,"...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:28 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

September 09, 2006

Planning for June 2007

The early days of June 2007 will see two significant Middle Eastern anniversaries: 25 years since Israel's June 1982 invasion of Lebanon and 40 years since the beginning of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:02 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

September 06, 2006

Additional resources on the Israel-Hizbullah war

Here, in no particular order, are some additional resources that I wanted to bookmark: (1) Two informative, shortish papers on Hizbullah's war-time decisionmaking and post-war prospects, by Dr. Amal Saad-Ghorayeb...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:42 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

Nasrallah in Safir-- now in English

It's here. It's long. It's from the US taxpayer-funded 'Open Source Center'. I have just skimmed it but haven't had time yet to give it anything like a close read....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:28 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

September 05, 2006

Nasrallah in As-Safir-- help, anyone?

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave an interview to As-Safir's Talal Salman which is in the paper today. Here are the highlights from it. And here, in three parts, is the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:15 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

August 29, 2006

Rabbani on Nasrallah's 'bombshell'

Mouin Rabbani, an extremely thoughtful and knowledgeable person who's a Contributing Editor to Middle East Report, has responded to this recent JWN post about Hassan Nasrallah's lengthy t.v. interview on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:38 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

August 28, 2006

Nasrallah: new biographical info

I just found this fascinating "autobiography" of Hassan Nasrallah on the web. It was apparently published August 10 by Ya Lesarat Ol-Hoseyn (Tehran), described as "in Persian -- extremely conservative...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:36 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

August 27, 2006

Nasrallah's 'bombshell', etc.

I've been pulling together materials for a big article on the whole 33-day war that I need to write for Boston Review this week, and guess what, Nasrallah comes out...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:54 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

August 25, 2006

And the winner is-- ?

You'll need to read Arabic to read this report from the respected Beirut Center for Research and Information. It presents the results of an opinion poll carried out by the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:29 PM | Fulltext link (56 comments)

August 24, 2006

How can Israeli civilians be protected from Hizbullah shelling?

Over on this JWN discussion board, Israeli commenter JES and I (and others) have been having a good discussion. In particular, JES asked, "What might have constituted a 'proportionate' response...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:38 PM | Fulltext link (31 comments)

August 23, 2006

More on the Marjayoun convoy, Israel's attacks on civilians

Bob Fisk, writing in today's Independent, gives these details about the fateful "Marjayoun convoy" of August 11: "They went so slowly, I was enraged," a relief worker recalls. "People at...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:16 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

August 22, 2006

Haunting Images from Israel

Maybe I'm still too human. I resist viewing the many available web pictures of death in Lebanon and Israel in the recent carnage - even as my head tells me...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:10 AM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

August 19, 2006

Shocking news

I just heard from Huda Rashed, the Lebanese second cousin of two of my children, that her mother Colette Rashed was one of those killed when the Israeli Air Force...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:46 AM | Fulltext link (28 comments)

August 18, 2006

Cordesman on Iran-Hizbullah 'link'

Anothiny Cordesman, who holds the "Arleigh Burke Chair" (whatever that is) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, is a well-known face on US television and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:33 PM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

August 17, 2006

Hizbullah building bridges; Israel's command authorities fracturing

I just read this Yahoo/AP news report about Lebanese Army units deploying to south Lebanon today, and I clicked onto the slideshow accompanying it. In a number of slides you...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:58 AM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

August 15, 2006

Great military/strategic commentary from Pat Lang and Co.

Here's AP this evening: Hundreds of Israeli soldiers walked out of Lebanon on Tuesday — some smiling broadly and pumping their fists, others weeping or carrying wounded comrades — as...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:20 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

August 13, 2006

So what was this war all about, again?

Aluf Benn, writes in today's Haaretz: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday met with the parents of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldiers Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser and told them...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:08 AM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

August 12, 2006

Ceasefire resolution for Lebanon

Lebanon has a ceasefire resolution. I am happy that there is a chance of the killing being ended soon because of it-- But this is clearly only a chance, since...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:41 PM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

August 09, 2006

My CSM column on the need for speedy, comprehensive Israeli-Arab peace

The Christian Science Monitor of Thursday carries my column on what to do about Lebanon (also here.) The editors there titled it For a lasting Middle East peace, look back...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:23 PM | Fulltext link (66 comments)

Israel's attack force: woes and goals

I know that in every war, the soldiers like to kvetch and complain. But it strikes me the complaining is notably loud, notably early among Israel's attack force going into...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:28 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

Creating space for humanitarian and nonviolent action in S. Lebanon

Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has taken the heroic step of putting his life on the line in order to go visit...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:57 AM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

Do Israel and the US really want the Lebanese Army in the south?

On Monday, Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora annopunced his cabinet's intention of sending 15,000 Lebanese Army troops to south Lebanon, and the call-up of reservists in order to constitute this force....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:22 AM | Fulltext link (24 comments)

August 06, 2006

Bush and France agree-- so what?

I have been amazed at the provincial, bubble-like reaction of editors and commentators in major US media who have been presenting the news that the US and France agree on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:31 AM | Fulltext link (32 comments)

Dimensions of the Lebanon crisis

I am now, finally, back home, and intend to focus like a laser over the coming days on the strategic (as well as humanitarian) aspects of what is unfolding in...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:01 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

August 02, 2006

Some resources on Lebanon-Israel

I'm at my annual Quaker gathering in the Shenandoah Valley for most of this week. Just snuck out this morning to catch up with some mail and other vital things....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:55 AM | Fulltext link (34 comments)

July 31, 2006

Human Rights Watch on Qana

Human Rights Watch has issued an excellent statement about Sunday's massacre at Qana. Here's an excerpt: “Today’s strike on Qana, killing at least 54 civilians, more than half of them...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:39 PM | Fulltext link (73 comments)

July 30, 2006

Qana, again?

It is almost beyond belief that Israel's military has once again, in its massively disproportionate assault against Lebanon, hit a large group of very vulnerable Lebanese civilians who had sought...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:26 PM | Fulltext link (53 comments)

(Sort of a mistake)

This post, as it was published here by me in error and stayed up here for about 24 hours, was a clone of the Qana post that follows. I would...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:26 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

July 28, 2006

Quotes for the record:

All too much rhetorical nonsense relating to the Lebanon crisis is afoot. Where to start? Many of the themes I raised here weeks ago are finally being taken up meekly...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:50 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

July 24, 2006

Rice: far too little, far too late

Condi Rice seems to have been edging toward a realization that you can't for very long hope to both use Syrian power to help rein in Hizbullah and attack the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:34 AM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

Background on Hizbullah

Just a reminder, in case any readers here do not recall that I had a lengthy article on the history and politics of Hizbullah in Boston Review last year. Right...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:17 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

July 21, 2006

Is it "helpful" and "appropriate" to seek peace yet?

Spokespersons for the Bush Administration have been doing linguistic gymnastics to explain how the US is both "mourning" the loss of innocent life in Lebanon, but not yet showing any...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:11 PM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

July 19, 2006

Is Israel "uniting" Lebanon? & PM Siniora's appeal

Israel's ongoing country-wide punishment of Lebanon, we have been told, is meant to convince Lebanon to take-back their country from "the terrorists," to divide those who want peace with Israel...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 06:23 PM | Fulltext link (40 comments)

George Will vs. The Weekly Standard

In a wildly confused front-page Washington Post story today (19 July), Michael Abramowitz asserts that President Bush is "facing a new and swiftly building backlash on the right over his...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:58 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

July 18, 2006

Israel-Lebanon: the stakes

I'm in Kampala, Uganda. News is hard to get. But I see from Haaretz that Olmert's government seems to be stepping up the pace of its military assault against Lebanon:...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:35 AM | Fulltext link (43 comments)

July 15, 2006

"A bad movie rerun" and international opinion

I'm glad Helena has already focused our attention on Friday's WaPo essay by David Ignatius. I think it worthy of further comment, particularly to draw out his points about...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:15 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

July 12, 2006

Hizbullah ups the ante

So today, Lebanon's Hizbullah raised the stakes in the rapidly evolving confrontation between Israel and the militant Arab organizations on its borders-- and it also demonstrated its own continuing operational...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:41 PM | Fulltext link (25 comments)

September 18, 2005

Hate speech and Lebanon

According to this Reuters story used by Al -Jazeera, Lebanon has detained three leaders of an ultra-nationalist Christian party after it distributed CDs calling on every Lebanese to kill a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:11 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

June 14, 2005

In a class of his Aoun

I can't resist writing something quickly about the Lebanese elections. And about the Michel Aoun phenomenon. I thought I'd lost my capacity to be amazed (and frequently amused) at Lebanese...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:55 PM | Fulltext link (33 comments)

June 05, 2005

Killing and voting in Lebanon.

Deep condolences to the family and comrades of the slain lebanese journalist samir Kassir. The fact and manner of his killing were both equally shocking. Kassir, a convinced leftist activist,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:28 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

May 30, 2005

Lebanon's disappointing elections

Two days after the first round of the Lebanese parliamentary elections, the mood in the country seems pretty disappointed-- apathy and alienation from the country's ultra-arcane electoral process seem to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:37 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

Hizbullah and the May 2000 liberation of South Lebanon

Last Wednesday, May 25, was the fifth anniversary of the intriguing victory that lebanon's Hizbullah won when all the positions of the Israeli-puppet "South Lebanon Army" strung along the (in-)security...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:26 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 18, 2005

June 1, Washington DC

Here is the announcement for my June 1 talk on Hizbullah in Washington DC. It's a one-hour, lunch-time event; prior RSVPs to the Middle East Institute are, apparently, required. MEI...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:27 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

May 09, 2005

Lebanon: what goes around comes around

I ceased being surprised by any "startling" new political developments in Lebanon in, oh, around 1983, when Fateh's bosses suddenly started aligning with the Phalange. But still, this burgeoning Aoun-Hizbullah...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:09 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

April 25, 2005

Bush, Hizbullah, and disarmament

My recent long article on Hizbullah has continued to evoke a broad-- and fairly predictable-- range of reactions in various places. I'll be giving a public presentation on the subject...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:01 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

April 19, 2005

Miqati's cabinet, Lebanon

Lebanon's latest PM-designate Najib Miqati has now named his government. The new government's main role will be to steer the country through its much-needed parliamentary elections, which should take place...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:14 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

April 08, 2005

HC and FT on Hizbullah

I got my paper copy of the April-May issue of Boston review in the middle of the week. It has my big piece on Hizbullah in it. It looks pretty...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:03 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

April 06, 2005

A Beiruti recalls the Pope

There's a lovely piece in Thursday's Daily Star (Beirut) by Adnan El-Ghoul, titled John Paul II's legacy to Lebanon. I'm pretty certain Ghoul is a Sunni Muslim, which makes the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:03 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

March 27, 2005

Political interactions vs. bombs in Lebanon

I think there was another bomb in (predominantly Christian) East Beirut today, though thank G-d it didn't kill anyone. I'm sure it must be very disquieting to live there these...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:33 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

March 24, 2005

Jonathan's Lebanon: Part 5

Ace comparative-constitutions scholar and all-round excellent person Jonathan Edelstein has just put up onto his Head Heeb blog Part 5 of his series on Lebanon's political system. It's definitely good...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:03 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

March 18, 2005

Lebanon: Holding the line for nonviolence

There was a car-bomb in Beirut a short while ago. In the north of the city, a mainly Christian area. Seven people reported injured, thank G-d so far none reported...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:58 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

March 14, 2005

Lebanese prospects

Today is the one-month commemoration of Rafiq Hariri's killing. The organizers of the (heavily anti-Syrian) "We want an investigation into the killing!" movement have been organizing a demonstration today, and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:38 AM | Fulltext link (37 comments)

March 12, 2005

Lebanon: US retreat to continue?

There are quite a few interesting points in this piece by Nayla Assaf in the Beirut Daily Star today. If y'all are interested you can go read it there. But...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:54 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

March 10, 2005

US political retreat in Lebanon

As a proud member of the reality-based community I am always happy when people who exercise great power deign to join us in the world of real facts... Like, apparently,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:40 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Background on the Lebanese Shiites

Amazing, the power of the internet! Big thanks to all who emailed me with offers of help on PDF-ing my 1984-85 monograph titled The Shia community and the future of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:46 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

March 09, 2005

The Shia community of Lebanon, part 1

THE SHIA COMMUNITY AND THE FUTURE OF LEBANON By Helena Cobban© I am slowly going to put up onto this site a reproduction of a 12-page booklet of this title...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:45 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

March 08, 2005

What, the White House reads JWN?

In yesterday's post about Lebanon, remember, I wrote: I think Shalom and the Israeli government in general made a really stupid mis-step when they decided openly to throw their hat...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:23 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Whose "cedar" revolution now?

I sit here in the US. For the past week or so, I've been bombarded with all these ill-informed, shallow, self-referential "analyses" from people in the mainstream media here who...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:18 PM | Fulltext link (62 comments)

March 07, 2005

Israel and Hizbullah: face-off in Lebanon

The Lebanon story continues rapidly to evolve. On Sunday morning, Israeli FM Silvan Shalom, on his way to Washington, told reporters that his government will be working hard to push...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:46 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

March 03, 2005

Interesting takes on Lebanon

[Oops I thought I'd posted this at 10 p.m. last night but it turns out I failed to hit the vital "Publish" button. Still worth looking at though.] Two thoughtful...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:16 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

February 26, 2005

Oldtimer's view from Beirut

A friend from Beirut who wishes to be identified simply as "Oldtimer" sent me the following: Just finished your good piece in CSM. It is good to see that you...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:43 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

February 19, 2005

Lebanon: the multi-track version

A dizzying number of different narratives are being unfolded in Lebanon these days. here are the main ones: Track 1: The facts about the hideous killing of Rafiq Hariri Track...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:55 AM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

February 14, 2005

Rafiq Hariri, RIP

Former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri and at least nine other people were killed in a massive car bomb attack on the Beirut seafront today. A Sunni Muslim billionaire from Sidon,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:45 AM | Fulltext link (72 comments)

December 31, 2004

Basic services in Iraq: a proposal

I'm crashing on the deadline to write my increasingly lengthy Hizbullah piece for Boston Review. (Celebrated 'New Years Eve' at c. 11 p.m. last night. Go figure.) So today, I...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:40 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

December 22, 2004

Lebanon's Hizbullah

I'm busy writing about (Lebanese) Hizbullah this week. It's really interesting because, (1) Seeing the amazing political smarts inside this Shi-ite political organization in Lebanon, where Shi-ites are maybe 45%...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:56 PM | Fulltext link (41 comments)

November 07, 2004

Hizbollah and Israel's border

There was a well-conceived piece by Nick Blanford in yesterday's Daily Star, looking at the security situation along Lebanon's southern border with Israel. He was examining in particular the fears...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:50 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

November 04, 2004

Meeting Hizbullah

What better way to respond to news that George W Bush has been elected President of the USA for the next four years than to go and visit contacts in...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:25 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

October 19, 2004

Beirut downtown

Okay, we've been here in Beirut for 16 days and finally, tonight, Bill and I made a foray into the rebuilt "downtown" area. We've driven through it a few times;...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:18 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

October 13, 2004

Beirut, part 4

I've been continuing to work on re-encountering Beirut with some wariness. Lots of reasons for that. Some personal, some political. If you want to skip the following few "personal" observations...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:52 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

October 11, 2004

Links re south Lebanon

Here is a link to a 1999 Human Rights Watch commentary on the Khiam prison. You can find some good info about Beaufort castle here, and some nice pix of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:04 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

Reflections on south Lebanon

I noticed that the post I put up here yesterday about my trip to south Lebanon suffered from the "amazing disappearing bottom" in some renditions. Okay, the problem is it...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:45 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

October 10, 2004

Beirut, Part 3

Saturday was field trip day. Destination: parts of southern Lebanon. To be precise, we visited, in short order: The Old City of Saida (Sidon), The family lands near Marjayoun to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:50 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

October 05, 2004

Beirut, Part 1

We've been here in Beirut for two days now. I have to admit that beforehand, I was looking at the prospect of the trip with whole bundles of mixed feelings....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:30 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

October 01, 2004

To Lebanon (and elsewhere?)

Tomorrow, Bill the spouse and I will drive from Virginia to Philadelphia, leave our car there with Lorna, then fly to Lebanon for a couple of months. Bill has a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:58 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

March 30, 2003

LESSONS FROM AN EARLIER GULF WAR:

LESSONS FROM AN EARLIER GULF WAR: When US citizens talk about a "precedent" for fighting in the Persian Gulf region, they're almost always talking about "Operation Desert Storm". In that...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:11 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)