Persiflage & Paroxysm

Lebanon is a rare commodity these days, one of the few Arab countries without a facebook revolution. This is more than just an interesting bit of trivia, it’s a fact we should be capitalizing on, fixing our infrastructure, improving our public services: transport, power, water, communication, going at it hammer and tongs, full speed ahead to attract foreign investors, value creators, all those leaving the sinking ships of North Africa and Arabia. We should be aiming to attract all the wealthy exiles thrown out by their revolutions and all their capital. Now that would really make us the Switzerland of the Middle East. But our financial system is already choking with excess liquidity, plagued as we are by dull edged, unimaginative bankers and policy makers who can’t find enough creative ways to invest all the money in their vaults. Greenfields and Start ups, the nutrient-rich topsoil of economic activity in any country, have the hardest time of all getting access to funds. Simply put t

O, how naked and alone We stand before our faults How quickly fellows all Abandon us to our fated fall How quickly awkward silence fills That wide stretch of time with icy chills How sudden and awful the consuming darkness How terrible and bone crushing the despair

What will it take for a people's revolution to burst forth on to Lebanese streets? Not so much to demand the fall of a regime but rather to demand the restoration of constitutional powers to the people and take them away from the political elite. It has been said Arabs are an emotional people, easily goaded and angered, but that we never follow through with anything. On March 14, 2005, people, ordinary non-political men, women and children (my own aunt) took to the streets. They knew exactly what they wanted and they knew exactly who they sympathized with, but they never gave a second thought to what will come after the last Syrian soldier crossed the border. In fact many simply ignored the question all together, they were just happy, their actions had forced a regional power to pull its troops out of Lebanon. Some one once said that a local despot is ten times worse than a foreign oppresor, I assume because a foreginer can always leave or be forced to leave, but we will always hav

You ever wonder how illusionists put on those big shows in which they make an elephant or expensive sports car disappear. The secret is not finding a way to move the elephant or the sports car (which would require a complex, concealed system of pulleys and trap doors), the secret is in misdirecting the audience, which is easy to do because they are so human and so predictable. Mubarak’s maneuverings to date indicate he is a master manipulator and skilled illusionist. Freedom: now you got it now you don’t! Tahrir Square: one day it’s full of protestors and the next day the army is clearing the remnants of makeshift tents and traffic is zipping on by. If anyone believes the tricky old octogenarian is down and out, think again! Mubarak (by extension his regime) is in control as much as ever and probably even more than before. Mubarak’s Last Act, a theatrical play with an, as yet, unwritten ending, opens with police water cannons showering protestors praying in the middle of the streets. W