Category Archives: Lebanon

Lebanon’s Team Makes Its Entrance at the London 2012 Olympics

Mustapha of Beirut Spring is right. We don’t really care about the Olympics. And there’s no explanation for it. The only reason I tuned in to the Opening Ceremony was because I read on Twitter that the British were doing an excellent job at it. The moment I tuned in, Lord Voldemort was terrorizing children in an homage to British literature. I, of course, was transfixed and decided to persevere.

However, what we do care about is our men and women who make us proud in representing Lebanon with all that they can, despite the non-existent support they get from almost all sports-related institutions and our government first and foremost.

These are Lebanon’s athletes making their entrance at the Olympics and making us proud. They may not win anything but the fact that they are there, against all odds, is honorable in itself.

Thank you @figo29 for the picture

The 10 athletes are:

– Tvin Moumjoghlian (Ping Pong)
– Andrea Paoli (Taekwondo)
– Katya Bachrouche (Swimming)
– Ray Bassil (Shooting)
– Ahmad Hazer (Athletics)
– Gretta Taslakian (Athletics)
– Zain Shaito (Fencing)
– Mona Shaito (Fencing)
– Caren Chammas (Judo)
– Wael Koubrosli (Swimming)

An 11th athlete, Fadi Tannous, passed away a few days ago. (Details). May he rest in peace.

(Click on their name for a profile) and I wish them all the best of luck.

The Ward el Khal “Scandal” is an LBC Prank

Remember the video that surfaced online a few days ago and featured Lebanese actress Ward el Khal going into a cat fight with a woman who accused her of sleeping with her husband?

If you don’t, then here’s the video.

A few days later, Blog Baladi wrote about Ward el Khal filing a lawsuit against the woman in question. Drama, drama. Literally.

It turned out the whole video is a prank, staged by LBC, who wanted to advertise their new TV station: LBC Drama.

While the prank sure got people talking, I have to say it’s a very cheap shot and I’d be worried if it actually represented the content of what LBC Drama will air.

The new station will go on air starting August 20th.

“The idea was that of brilliance, leading viewers to feel and live the moment and the drama,” Ward el Khal said regarding the video.

I guess some people have a low standard for what’s brilliant.

This is Ward el Khal letting you all know:

LBC are proud by how viral the video went. What I don’t get is how that will benefit them in whatever they were trying to do.

 

The Visa Situation for the Lebanese Passport

It’s bad people. Really bad. Remember when I was complaining about Lebanon being one of 39 countries that has to wait 10 days on average for the Schengen visa? If you don’t, then here it is.

It turns out the situation is much worse than having to wait 10 days for a Schengen visa. We, as Lebanese, can access 33 countries without needing visas. 33 sounds appealing? Well, the #1 countries in the world, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, can access 173 countries.

In a 2011 study, conducted by Henley & Partners, Lebanon ranked 97 out of 110 countries and behind countries such as Iran, Egypt.

In fact, in a 2010 study conducted by the same company (check it out here), we are also behind North Korea. And it doesn’t stop there. We are also on brochures that tell travelers about Lebanon being one of the countries with the most visa restrictions.

 

I have to ask though: why is the situation this bad? Other neighboring countries, who share our geographical location and the whole baggage of the Middle East, have a better situation that we do.

It could be that our Ministry of Foreign affairs is doing a horrible job, which I think is true. I mean, have you heard that “minister” asking the president to halt in filing a protest against Syrian violation of our land pending investigations? When you have people like that in charge of these types of relations, where do you expect to get?

Or could it be that all those other countries simply refuse to permit headache-free entry for Lebanese travelers?

I would tend to think it’s the former – that governments throughout the years have been and are doing such a bad job with foreign relations that with each passing day our passport loses whatever negligible value it had. And it’s actually very sad.

What’s the best passport to seek out in case you want to go anywhere you want and still retain your Lebanese citizenship? It seems like Sweden is a good fit. Denmark doesn’t allow dual citizenships.

A word for our minister of foreign affairs though, the citizens of the country that he has no problem getting up in a fit for whenever they violate our country can access 142 countries. Just saying.

 

 

An Update on the Land Sold in Keserwan to a Saudi Prince

Remember the land in Dlebta, Keserwan that was sold to a Saudi Prince and caused a frenzy among a decent portion of the Lebanese people a few months ago?

Well that Saudi Prince has decided to sell back the land to the Lebanese with the potential buyer being preferably Christian.
He didn’t specify how much he’d ask for the land so he might want to make a profit off of it. And that’s without even addressing the many loopholes that a shrewd business man can use in this case.

Crisis averted? Not quite.

The problem isn’t with the Saudi Prince himself, although some wanted to sell that point to make political gains, but it was with the simple idea that foreigners can apparently get the government to bend real estate laws at will in order for them to make transactions which many Lebanese can never dream to afford.

The problem isn’t solved with the Saudi prince selling the land back to a Lebanese with an advantage to someone Christian. The problem is solved when future deals such as things, regardless of where the land is situated or who the buyer is, cannot be fulfilled simply because they are illegal.

Some Christian political parties will somehow twist the Saudi Prince’s change of heart into a triumph for them. Anything can work before the 2013 elections. And people will forget such a thing happened – until it happens again.

A la prochaine.

MTC Touch Ramadan Offer (Unlimited Calls after Iftar): Big Fail!

It started with that ridiculous marketing campaign they called “In My New World.”

I thought it would be about them introducing new services. It turned out about them rebranding. MTC Touch decided to drop the part of their name people use to call the company. They lost the MTC and kept the “Touch” and that made perfect sense to them. I guess we should have taken that as a sign.

MTC decided to offer its subscribers something cool for Ramadan. They get to choose one number which they would be able to call for free after Iftar, throughout the month of Ramadan.

The concept of anything unlimited when it comes to phones in Lebanon is so appealing that many MTC customers jumped on the offer the day Ramadan started.

And behold, a few days later some of them get the following SMS notifying them that they cannot be offered the service because maximum capacity has been reached.

Thank you Twitter user @JessyBechara for the picture

Technically, they aren’t lying. Some of my friends who tried the offer reported horrible service: either the network was busy all the time or they got disconnected more than once during the phone call they were attempting to make and ended up giving up on. So for all matters and purposes, maximum capacity was reached.

However, is that even an acceptable excuse to offer a service so heavily advertised to some users and not for others? Why didn’t they mention it’s a first-come first-served basis which it turned out to be? Even that wouldn’t be acceptable.

Either offer a service to all your users or don’t offer it at all. If you know for a fact that your infrastructure is beyond horrible,  which I believe MTC Touch knows, then simply don’t flaunt anything unlimited to your customers until you can own up to it and offer it to all customers. Mesh neis bsamne w neis bzeit. 

 

Didn’t MTC Touch even consider in its plans that people would jump on the offer? If not, then they seriously need new people in charge of all their departments. If they knew their network would be overloaded and they still went with the offer, then that shows exactly how little they care about their customers. Again, not surprising.

“In My New World,” dear MTC Touch Lebanon, when I’m offered a service, I get it. Maybe you should have used that approach in your campaign?