Category Archives: Lebanon

Lebanese Basketball Player Scores 113 Points in One Game – Makes US Headlines

NBA, MSN, AOL, Newsday you name it….

I haven’t watched Lebanese Basketball since Sagesse went down the drain – it’s just not that interesting anymore. But everyone is talking about how Mohammad El Akkari scored 113 points to lead his team, Mouttahed, to a win over Bejjeh on Wednesday. Out of those 113 points, 32 were 3-point shots – out of 59 attempts that is.

Akkari’s previous averages were 7.6 points a game. So I have no idea how he managed what he did. But according to sport experts, he’s the first person in a long, long time to manage over 100 points in a single basketball game. Call it impressive, call it fishy, at least he’s making the news rounds.

 

NBA

AOL

MSN

 

Samir Geagea’s Assassination Attempt

Head of the Lebanese Forces narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in his house in Meaarab, Keserwein, earlier today.

While taking a stroll outside, Geagea heard gunshots. So he ran for a safe place only to find the spot he was standing at had two bullet holes.

The security of his house was not breached. But the attempt is believed to have been taken out using high-tech equipment that can establish a perimeter of up to 4 kilometers. The Lebanese army is currently sending its helicopters to search the woods surrounding the area for possible suspects but the dense forests make the task extremely difficult.

The team that tried to assassinate Geagea obviously knows what it’s doing and has possibly done it before.

Now I ask – are we back to the assassination period in Lebanon where every single politician that has the guts to speak out against certain factions and regimes gets shot down? Are we back to a time where some people think gunning down Lebanese top politicians will get the people to cower away and not fight for their rights anymore?

Samir Geagea is the only Lebanese politician whose opinions, since he got out of his forced imprisonment in 2005, haven’t spun like a weather vane. He’s the only Lebanese politician who has asked the people for forgiveness for anything his party might have committed during the civil war. He’s the only Lebanese politician who served jail time. He’s the only Lebanese politician nowadays whose rhetoric doesn’t cower away from telling things like they are. He’s the only Lebanese politician who doesn’t equivocate over his beliefs.

I never thought I’d be this upset with such news. Why? Because I never thought it would actually happen. But now that Geagea has been targeted for assassination, years after the latest figure in Lebanese politics was killed, I cannot but be disgusted by the cowards and the filth of society that have tried to kill such a man.

I address them directly because I know they’re reading this: you disgust me. If anyone needs to die, it’s you – your guns, your backward mentality and your fear of those who can speak out against you.

They know who they are.

Samir Geagea lives. And his resolve will only grow stronger. His supporters will only grow more determined.

Lebanon To Have Unlimited Internet At Night?

Minister of Telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui recently tweeted that the government has approved unlimited internet quotas between 12 AM and 7 AM for all internet users in Lebanon.

Some ISPs, such as IDM and Terranet, offered this service in certain areas, notably Beirut and some of its neighboring regions. Ogero did not. But other regions were left in the dust. For example, my subscription in Batroun doesn’t have unlimited hours: I get charged for every MB I use. And trust me, the 20GB quota I get per month is nowhere near enough when you don’t have unlimited hours where you can do whatever you want.

Minister Sahnaoui said this new regulation will be implemented as soon as it’s published in the Official Gazette. No idea when that will be but I’m hoping soon.

Either way, I’ll keep you posted if I end up getting unlimited hours on my Batroun line or not. I’m not sure how the message that my line failed the “feasibility” testing can be overcome with a ministry regulation. I always assumed it was related to infrastructure. Apparently not. Time will tell, I guess.

Should the Lebanese Army Be Beyond Retribution?

To start this, I feel it is important to say that I respect the Lebanese army because many will feel, upon reading this, that I’m degrading our armed forces, which is not my intention.

The purpose of this post is to ask a few questions – the answers to those questions are not set in stone. They go back to your perspective. Some might feel the answer the questions posed are yes. Others will feel the answer is a no. Either way, it’s always healthy to have a debate.

When it comes to the Lebanese army, many put it on a pedestal. Whatever the army does, you can’t criticize it, you can’t comment on its work, you can’t talk about anything it does in a negative light. The argument? The army is already doing more than what’s required of it and you have no right to criticize.

But is the argument that the army is doing more than it should enough to explain any possible shortcomings?

For instance, when it comes to neutrality, the Lebanese army is praised for keeping a distance from everyone, as it should. For instance, when Kataeb students were getting beaten up in Downtown Beirut, the army stood by and watched. I think it should have interfered because these are the people it should be protecting. Many felt that remaining neutral is better.

However, soon after that downtown incident, students were protesting at a Lebanese university as a reply to a protest that went on a week earlier. The army was neutral for the first protest – it beat up the students during the second one. Now, should we remain silent about this or do we have the right to ask: what happened?

When it comes to the checkpoints, such as the Madfoun checkpoint, is it fair to say that we are civilians who don’t understand the importance of such checkpoints? Is it fair that we don’t get to criticize why some regions have such checkpoints and not others? Or should we just “suck it up” and not get a say at all?

Should we, as civilians, not be allowed to address some military men who abuse their power, if they exist, and who might be protected by the halo we throw around them?

Should the army’s triumphs protect it from any possible inquiry people might have about its other activities?

In any other country in the world, while the military is respected, people get the chance to constructively criticize. I say, who not in Lebanon too?

The Different Classes of Lebanese – Israel “Traitors”: The Fayez Karams VS Everyone Else

When it comes to Lebanon, our 99% and 1% extend to more than just the economic situation. The division also applies to our dealings with Israel.

If I, a Lebanese with no political backing, was found guilty of leaking information to Israel and whatnot, I’d be thrown in jail for life.

When influential people, like Fayez Karam, are found equally guilty of the same crime, they serve a meaningless prison sentence of two years – just as a formality – because such connections with Israel cannot go unpunished.

Conspiracy theorists most of whom happen to be pro-Fayez Karam will shout lies and fabrications at his trial. Those who are more reasonable will ask: why would Fayez Karam be framed to begin with? How could his arrest be political if those who are in charge are basically his own team?

The fact of the matter remains that if you weren’t belonging to certain political parties with Hezbollah blessing, then your treason is to a higher degree of severity. So yes my fellow Lebanese, even when it comes to those that we consider have betrayed our country, we have classes.

There are the Fayez Karams who can get away with it relatively unscathed.

And there are those like you and me who, if God forbid had dealings with Israel, will have their whole lives ripped away from them.

We shouldn’t be upset really. In a country where double standards has become the norm, why should treason be any different?

On a related note, you might want to check the Israeli Saar Szekely’s debate on Israeli national TV. I find the points I raised there very poignant to the discussion at hand.