The Box

I haven’t left Beirut since last April…

Tomorrow I am leaving to the Netherlands…

No…No…not for good…I am leaving for two weeks only…

It is good sometimes to leave the box…

You start seeing things differently…and this is what I need at this point in time…

All I can see from inside the box is black…I see nothing positive…

Maybe from outside the box…I will see the light…I will be able to see that we are on the right track towards a real peace in Lebanon…

Maybe I will see that our politicians are really working for a strong Lebanon…

Maybe I will see that the Lebanese are happy, confident, fulfilled and looking to the future with big dreams…

Oh!!! Outside the box…

Mia Culpa

YES…I went to the movies saturday night...

YES…I watched Casino Royale…

YES…for 2 hours I left the world of harsh reality…the world of Lebanese Politics and dived into the world of James Bond…

YES…for seconds I wished we had a Lebanese 007 who could solve the mystery of the assassinations…

Then the movie ended…

While leaving I looked at my husband and at our friend and asked….

“Do you think after 2 hours we are still in the Lebanese Republic, or did we become part of the Islamic Republic of Iran or did we become part of the Arab Republic of Syria?”

This is how insecure we feel in Lebanon these days…

Whatever

The 3 days of mourning ended…so guess what?

YES… We are expected to go back to normal life…

Starbucks was full tonight…

Lebanese Loto is back on television…Who’s the next millionaire?

Cinemas are open again…

Restaurants are full of hungry customers...

Ouf for 3 days…we were stuck at home…watching television…hearing the bad news one after the other…

Pierre Gemayel assassinated…Hezbollah and Amal refusing to re-join the government…General Aoun attacking again and over and over the government…The government waiting for the International Tribunal…

Call it whatever you want…

Call it passivity…

Call it the desire for normal life…

Call it nonchalance…

Call it numbness…

Call it whatever you want…

But they are continuing with their killings…they are continuing with their destruction…

They are destroying a whole country…and we are happy sitting at Starbucks…

Call it whatever you want…We don’t care…

We don’t care about Lebanon…

Enough is Enough

ENOUGH...ENOUGH...ENOUGH

Understanding the Middle East

Today I spent most of my time watching television…looking at people in tears…saddened by the death of Pierre Gemayel…

I spent the whole day thinking about War and Peace…Destruction and Construction…Sadness and Joy…Nightmares and Dreams…

War and Peace…what do they mean in the Middle East? Empty words…
Even war doesn’t mean a thing…
If it scares the Americans and the Europeans, it means normal life for us…
Yes war means daily life in the Middle East…

Peace…oh!!! Once it was a magical word in the Middle East…
Once it was the door for big dreams in the Middle East…
But now…it is a useless word…it has become a parochial and a vulgar word for dirty and suspicious compromises…

Destruction and Construction…in the Middle East…
Oh!!! We are the Masters of destruction…The Best…
And we are the Masters of construction…construction of death and hatred…The Best…

Sadness and Joy…in the Middle East…
Every household has a story with sadness…Every person has an “exciting” story on how he/she survived a catastrophic event…that is our Joy…we didn’t die yet…

Nightmares and Dreams…in the Middle East…
This one is easy…Ask an Arab about his nightmare…he/she will tell you the Israeli Jew…
Ask an Israeli Jew about his nightmare…he/she will tell you the Arab…
Dreams!!!

In the Middle East…we are all dreaming of getting rid of the “Other” and in the same time, we are dreaming of getting out of the Middle East to find a decent life…

Do I need to say more?

Death strikes again

They killed the 34 year old minister of industry, the son of ex president of the Lebanese Republic…

They killed Pierre Gmayel…

The Cedar revolution is under attack? …YES

Lebanon is under attack? …YES

Lebanese are under attack? …YES

Do we want to know who is killing all these people? …YES

But most importantly we want to know what are we as Lebanese (ALL LEBANESE) going to do after this new assassination?

When are we ALL going to say enough is enough?

How many people should die…before we start acting?

I will say it and keep on saying it…the political situation is disgusting…

If it is not a “Lebanese hand” who is responsible for this killing…Let all the Lebanese politicians unite to rescue this country…

Let all the politicians stand side by side to end this useless crisis…

Nasrallah and Aoun…this is a new opportunity for you…to stand side by side with the government of Prime Minister Seniora…

Don’t miss the chance…

Don’t let this country become a battlefield for the Syrians and Iranians against the United States…

This is our country…this is our nation…Lebanon is for the Lebanese…

For Christians, For Muslims, For Liberals, For Conservatives…

Lebanon is OURS…

Waiting for the Lebanese Godot

I have been cross with Lebanon for a while now…

The political situation is a disaster…

The economic situation is deteriorating so fast… you go to the shops the things that are missing are more than the things available…

Whatever you ask for…the answer is…we will get it soon… we don’t have it now…

People are all depressed…all are watching television…waiting when Hezbollah will decide to start its demonstrations…all are watching television…waiting when the civil war will start…

Is that a normal life?

It is NOT…

I am working on getting my immigration papers to Canada?

Yes I am…

But then again…

Today I was on my way to the Dutch embassy…I heard a “patriotic song” on the radio…

It reminded me how much I love this country…

Then I realized that I am cross with the Lebanese POLITICIANS…I am not angry with the people, I am not angry with the Lebanese soil…

They are destroying the country…and I am not the only one to say that…

So the question is what are we going to do?

The Civil Society that is the silent majority, minority I don’t know…but the Civil Society is watching, despairing…letting the others decide where to take the country…

Maybe we the Civil Society that is not politicized (meaning not affiliated to any political party) should go on demonstrations… against all…against 14th of March, against 8th of March (the majority and the opposition…this is how they call themselves)

We should demonstrate…to tell them enough is enough…what you are doing is disgusting…

Dismantle it

I am glad that Segolene Royal has won…I am glad that she will be running for presidency…I am glad because she is a woman…I am glad because she represents change on many levels…

Today, in front of her fellow citizens in Melle…she declared that it is time for the French to imagine the France of tomorrow…Oh!!! and she is so right…

And what about us Lebanese…When are we going to imagine the Lebanon of tomorrow?

We know the Lebanon of yesterday…and we know the Lebanon of today…
We know where we failed… and we know where we excelled…

We know what doesn’t work and what works for us to be a country with a certain influence and role in the region…

So, what are we waiting for?

Are we waiting for the Syrians, Iranians, French and Americans to tell us what to imagine?

The situation is getting frustrating…If it will continue like this; what is the need for Lebanon…what is the use of having a country, a state a nation?

Let’s dismantle it…Let’s get rid of it…

Happy and proud host!! it was a wonderful night...

My husband is happy...I am happy!!!

Focus...know what you are eating

mmm...delicious!!
What a great cook she is!!!

He looks as he is enjoying his bite of maki, doesnt he??

As I promised...First pictures of the sushi party

Sushi dinner

Ok everybody…it is time for celebration…

I know that I have been a bit negative for the past few weeks…but today I feel that I am back to normal…

Why????

Because for the first time since the last war I am having people over dinner!!!

And guess what??

I am doing sushi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, my friends…I will be sharing these precious moments with all of you…

And I will be posting pictures of this evening on the blog….

Stay connected...

What a GREAT country

The first round of dialogue between our GREAT politicians last summer ended with the war between the IDF and Hezbollah…

Now we are witnessing another round of dialogue…Our GREAT speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri came up with this GREAT idea that our GREAT politicians should gather again around the GREAT table in the parliament to solve the country’s problems…

What a GREAT fiasco…

I was one of the many that were very optimistic when the first rounds of dialogue started last summer…I saw it as the most natural, normal and logical move after the drastic changes in the country.

But it turned out to be a masquerade…

It turned out to be a waste of time…

Our GREAT politicians agreed on many important issues related to the future of the country…but in vain…the result was an uncontrollable war…

Now, People have lost hope…I lost hope in these dialogue sessions at the parliament…

I am pretty sure that the result of the dialogue among our GREAT politicians will be a tremendous failure…

For two reaons…

1-Our GREAT politicians don’t trust each other…and instead of wasting their time (well maybe they have nothing better to do)…instead of wasting our time with futile subjects…They should start building trust between themselves…

Let Mr Berri start the dialogue sessions with trust building exercises…that will help a lot…

2-What they are doing will never succeed when one party is holding the gun in the face of the others…
To be clear…they will not get far in the discussions while Hezbollah is holding on to its arms…

That is basic…because the other party will feel less powerful and therefore more rigid in its position…and on the other side Hezbollah will be rigid in its position because he feels strong with its guns…

The solution for a successful ending for the dialogue…

It’s the weapons, you stupid!!!

Ego Boosting

I haven’t been writing much these days…and I am getting complaints because of that…It is not that I have nothing to say…on the contrary with all the masquerade of dialogue that is going on in Lebanon…AHHH I have a lot to say

But…I haven’t been writing much…

Why??

Well I have many reasons but the first one on the list is LAZINESS…

Sorry for disappointing you…

But the second reason on the list is that I am not getting enough praising and compliments…

Well by now you know me and you know my megalomania and my constant need to ego boosting…..

So, because I am not getting a lot of praising and a lot of OH Laury HOW GREAT YOU ARE…I am not writing much…

Sorry for disappointing you…

But that doesn’t mean that I will keep on being lazy…

I will write constantly…and I will say what I have to say…

I will take good care of my baby…

Connected world

The Lebanese-French relations were always special because of the Mandate of course.
Lebanese, who are able to travel, love to go to Paris at least once per year.
Kids start speaking French even before speaking in their mother tongue.
France is always a reliable support for Lebanese when they are in trouble…. And these days we are always in trouble…

Why am I talking about France today?? It is not out of nowhere…I have a good reason… well like always…

“Integrating Islam”…in Europe

If France succeeds in overcoming the problem with its Muslim citizens then all Europe is saved…and therefore there is still hope for the better evolution of the whole world…

If France fails in its endeavor…then all Europe will end up in a cycle of violence and its era of collapse will begin…back to the dark ages…and the whole world will follow…

Why is that?

Europe is the cradle of everything…not only as they say the cradle of civilization… and please…don’t start now with all the Orientalist and other bullshit theories...in the name of respecting other civilizations or other whatever…

Europe is the only entity that has gone through the right path of evolution…
Let me explain…

Europe has gone through many metamorphoses…Transformations in its structure from the dark ages…to the Empires…to the revolutions…to the enlightenment…to the nation states…to world wars…ending up with the Union makes it the perfect “evolutionary” example.

Its people and institutions lived through all the changes and alterations and turned out the way the turned…open minded, tolerant, rational….

Then 9/11 happened…

The world changed… The divisions became very clear….The war between Islam and the West was been declared…

Then came Francis Fukuyama to correct one important thing: the war is between Islam and America…discarding Europe…

That correction showed the greatness of Europe…the tolerant Europe, the mixed Europe…the visionary Europe

Then craziness prevailed over the world and the global war on terrorism left no place for vision…

Europe became involved…and the war knocked its doors…

The UK…what can I say about the UK…at this moment I am saying nothing about all the things that are happening over there…

My focus is on France that has the highest rate of Muslims in Europe (with 8% of its population)…

France the cradle of revolutions…all eyes are turned towards it to see how it will deal with its Muslim citizens…
A successful formula will save us all from more extremism…
A subjugating formula will be a disaster to all of us…
And it will increase the Islamic bitterness giving the Islamists a boost to continue their vision of destruction which will give the US the strength to continue in its crazy policies in the Middle East…which will end up destroying all hopes for us Middle Eastern to live in Peace…

And who said the world is not connected???