Finally Iraqis are united and happy

Finally a happy breaking news from Iraq: Shaza Hassoun the Iraqi participant in Star Academy Middle East wins the title...

Those who watched the LBC missed alot...the true event was happening on the Sharquiya (the Iraqi satellite tv)...The images above are taken from the Sharquiya... the crowd is in Erbil (and who said that the kurds in Iraq dont feel Iraqis??)

All the Iraqis from all confessions voted for Shaza...all the Iraqis forgot for a while their divisions and united after Shaza Hassoun...and this is what CNN reported today...

Mabrouk to Shaza and Mabrouk to all the Iraqis that I know...you deserve all the happiness...and I am happy for Shaza too...I voted for her...more than once....

Orly Azoulay and the Arab Summit

Welcome to the Arab summit in Riyadh…

I was expecting it to be a boring summit…The most the Arab leaders will achieve is to revive the old peace initiative of 2002…

However, at night while I was watching the Jazeera news…something interesting and very interesting caught my eyes…
“An Israeli journalist of Yedioth Ahronoth with the Ban Ki-moon press delegation in Riyadh”...

Orly Azoulay has made history…She no longer will be just a simple journalist…

She is the first Israeli journalist to enter Saudi Arabia, openly…

She has broken one of the oldest, rusted barriers of them all… She has paved the way for a new sort of relations between Israelis and Arabs (besides Egyptians, Jordanians, Palestininians and Qataris).

After Saudi Arabia…the whole Arab world is open to you Ms Azoulay…

Take the next flight to Beirut with Ban Ki-moon…You will enjoy meeting the Lebanese politicians…the most mysterious creatures of all time…

Bravo Orly Azoulay…you added the spices needed to the tasteless Arab Summit…

Star Academy and Hosny Mubarak

Intellectuals in the Middle East and intellectuals in Europe and the US interested in the Middle East are so funny, so optimistic and so opportunists (in the negative sense)…

I remember when the first “reality shows” started in the ME…how all these intellectuals started analyzing the good effects of popular voting in these shows that will lead to a more democratic systems in their societies…

At that time all the analysis were focused on the concept of voting and expressing of opinion and choosing the stars as a replacement to the lack of democratic customs in the political arena in the Middle East…

So much optimism…so much prediction…so much expectation…
The wind of change was blowing again…

But no one wants to understand that there is nothing of this kind (societal movements) that will lead to a drastic change in the political structures of the Middle East…

They expected changes with the introduction of Al Jazeera, then with the reality shows and the popular voting, and now it is the turn of the blogs…

But nothing will change…

For two reasons:
-The strong unbreakable political corrupted structures
-People’s lack of faith in its power for change

Why am I writing about this now?
I am writing about this now because this Friday it is the last show of Star Academy 4 in Beirut and people are expected to vote to choose the one that they feel deserves to be the Star of the Academy…
Well instead of voting, people are trying to guess who the people in charge of the program will choose to be the Star…

Exactly the same is happening in Egypt… with the referendum on the constitution…
Instead of participating in the voting (with a NO), the Islamic brotherhood, Kefaya and other leftists are boycotting and announcing that whatever they will do Hosny Mubarak will get what he wants….

You see the same logic…

Instaed of voting for our favorite star…we wait for the people in charge to choose

Instaed of voting against the amendments that we don’t like…we boycott and let Mubarak gets what he wants…

Meet me in a hundred years…we will be talking the same in the Middle East…

It is hopeless….

Stars on Jaras 2

A family of stars...

For the occasion of mother's day, Jaras magazine, one of the leading entertainment magazine in the Arab world and Lebanon chose us to be on its cover...

Thank you Ms Nidal Ahmadieh (and happy mother's day to you too), Rouwa, Shadi and Hanna...It is a great article...

Stars on Jaras

Another gift

Another gift for mother's day...

Mothers' Day

This is my gift for mothers' day...

To all my friends and relatives abroad that are dying to see me how I have been transformed... This is me 7 months pregnant...

Yes you can send your nice words congratulating me on how great I look...

You know me I like compliments....

Keri, Aida and Mokour I miss you...

Curiosity Trips around the Middle East

Tzipi Livni again and again…

From Washington she called on all the Arab leaders not to wait for peace to normalize their relations with Israel…
She declared that peace will come after normalization…

We are back to an old never ending argument… what comes first…the egg or the hen?
What comes first peace or normalization?

For years Hafez Assad refused to show any sign of normalization with Israel until they sign the peace agreement…He refused even to let his foreign minister Faruq Sharaa’ shake hands with Ehud Barak in the last round of negotiations in 2000…

Another example for the dilemma of Peace or Normalization before is the “cold peace” between Egypt and Israel… and the “confused peace” between Jordan and Israel…

So you see both ways ended up in fiasco…

Don’t ask me why…I have no clue…

But I know that we shouldn’t keep the Peace v/s Normalization concept… It is not going anywhere…

Instead Tzipi Livni should have gone a step further and suggest “curiosity trips around the Middle East” where people from Israel and people from the Arab world under the supervision of the UN go on discovery trips…To discover the other side…

Without giving it any political connotation or anything…Just the “Curiosity Trips around the Middle East”

Segolene, Hillary, and Tzipi

I grew up in a family of 3 girls, a mom and a dad…
A dad that never was upset of not having sons…
A dad that encouraged us to say what we think and do whatever we want of course responsibly…

That up-bringing gave me the impression and the conviction that women can achieve anything they want in their life…No limits because they are women…
That up-bringing made me amazed and impressed with women in power, women-politicians…
That up-bringing makes me support Hillary Clinton, Segolene Royal and today I strongly support Tzipi Livni for taking over the prime minister job in Israel…

Tzipi Livni…I always had mixed feelings about her…

Well during the summer war in Lebanon, she didn’t show any sign of sympathy towards the people of Lebanon…Ok I understand her harsh remarks towards our prime minister but…what about us the people…

But what can I do…I can’t control it…. I enjoy listening to her talking; expressing her ideas without fear of offending anyone…She is sharp, very sarcastic, straight forward and a woman…

I like Tzipi Livni…I like to see her the next prime minister of Israel…

Modified Arab Peace Initiative

End of March…The Arab Summit…

Usually these Arab summits are useless…and a waste of time for everybody…except of course for the Arab leaders…These summits will make them feel better…They make them feel they are accomplishing something….

Usually they are pre-staged and even the final outcome is known prior to the meeting…well Arab leaders don’t like to be embarrassed…and they don’t like surprises…They are dull…

But I would like to focus on some issues related to the March gathering…

For a while now, the Israeli media is talking about Bandar Bin Sultan (of Saudi Arabia) as being the main negotiator with the Israelis through the United States to modify the Arab Peace Initiative…

Interestingly enough…The Saudis have not denied that piece of information…
Interestingly enough…Tzipi Livni has been talking about a modified Arab Peace initiative for a while…
Interestingly enough…Ehud Olmert has been mentioning the Arab Peace Initiative more than once these days…

So, if the negotiations go well…The Arab summit will be dealing with a modified Peace Initiative…

Which means that we are all back on the table of negotiations to rescue whatever is left from the Middle East…

But again Lebanon will be the problem…What are we going to do with the Palestinian refugees…most of the camps are armed…What are we going to do with Hezbollah…fully armed…

Friday thoughts

I am not inspired at all these days…

I don’t know what to write about…

Nothing is clear in Beirut…

We, the people, as usual are the last ones to know what is happening in our country…

There are foreign mediators taking care of our own business…our political life…and that doesn’t bother us at all…

I am spending a lot of my time these days at starbucks…listening to other people’s conversations…

You feel that everything is normal…you don’t feel like you are living in a shattered, paralyzed country…

Should that make me feel comfortable? I don’t know…
Should that make me feel optimistic that the strength of this country is in the nonchalance of its people in facing catastrophes?

At this moment my only explanation to this phenomenon is that Lebanese have became used to disasters…and they are became used to the political private club games…

And they know that at the end of the day…these same corrupted politicians will be back together, exchanging kisses and laughter and launch and dinner…and the country will be ok again…

We live in an ongoing Broadway production…I think our play has last the longest…It is been ongoing since 1945…

For the record

Just for the record...
I allow myself to pretend that I was the first person in Lebanon to get the crocs...I got them on January 2007...
So now that there are announcing "Soon Crocs in Beirut"... I would love to hear of anyone that got them before me...I mean a Lebanese living in Lebanon...
Just for the record...I was the first one...

Scattered thoughts

The Palestinian problem ceased to be an Arab problem the moment the internal fighting started between Fatah and Hamas…

Israel can stop pretending to be different than its Arab neighbors, its government as our governments take order from the US… So welcome Israel to your Arab neighborhood…Enjoy your stay

Lebanon is not more than a country, Lebanon is not a message from God, Lebanon is not a symbol of co-existence…Lebanon is a failed state

The wisest analysis I heard since the start of the Lebanese crisis in February 2005 was last week. The analysis goes as such: “The Palestinians are fighting so hard to get a country and stop being a CAUSE and we the Lebanese are doing everything possible to destroy our country to become a CAUSE”- Rafic Khoury, Journalist.

Should we or shouldn’t we negotiate with terrorists?

Whoever thinks that civilization as we know it will disappear is mistaken. Look around you, look at the people. Human beings are passionate about life, and this is the driving force of civilization… Passion of life

What is the purpose of drinking black tea without sugar?

You should always answer to sms’ that you get. Think of the other side, he/she might be getting crazy waiting for an answer

Empathy is impossible
Sympathy is cheap
Apathy is the easy way out

Carrot cake is my favorite desert
I wonder what will be the next trend of food after sushi in the world
I discovered that I liked prunes more than oranges and apples
I always forget to mention that my favorite movie, really favorite is Mr and Mrs Smith…Sorry Jennifer…