Category Archives: Lebanon

Lebanon Preparing For A Nuclear Plant

Lebanon is on track for nuclear energy! Who knew it was even in the works?

According to Al-Nahar, prime minister Najib Mikati met with people from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and some Lebanese scientists to discuss the possibility of building a nuclear plant in Lebanon. The prime minister was welcoming to the idea and asked for the study regarding the project to be done in six months.

While we won’t be the first country in the region to have such a plant, I see this as a very advanced step that might be premature with the current state of our infrastructure: ranging from our internet to our roads. When the government is fighting over electricity boats & new power plants, and when there are talks about cost-cutting with regards to rebuilding certain bridges (Jal El Dib to be exact), somehow a nuclear plant is way over the top, no?

This doesn’t mean a plant will surely be built. God knows such “studies” tend to be dragged on and on until the whole affair becomes history and the people get over their enthusiasm. And to be honest, is Lebanon ready – politically – for all the repercussions that having nuclear energy entails?

We are too worried to take a clear stance regarding Syria – how about when the whole world looks upon this little country – with the  “terrorist” group Hezbollah – procuring nuclear energy?

Lebanese Cause Du Jour: Rotten Meat

It happens every now and then that a case of mass hysteria spreads around Lebanon following an event that makes headlines. It happened in January when the Achrafieh building collapsed. The cause du jour at the time was our infrastructure. Does anyone remember the Achrafieh building and its victims today? No. Is anyone still concerned with the upheaval of our rent law? No. Is anyone still worried about the state of their building in Beirut? No.

It’s not really a “Lebanese” thing as it is a human thing. We have a short attention span to events and get carried away with hype. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But when it comes to the rotten food situation in Lebanon, I have to ask: why the melodrama?

We are all entitled to worry about our health. If we didn’t, who would? But when it comes to the food incident, we are not the first country where such a thing happened and we won’t be the last. Besides, this wasn’t the first time that rotten food was found in Lebanon and it won’t be the last. Or doesn’t anyone remember when your mother panicked for a day or two about the chicken nuggets she was buying following a Kalem El Nes episode which was repeated a while later for extra emphasis?

The melodrama cannot but be heightened by the way our media handles such incidences. To many people, it seemed that all restaurants were in on it – buying cheap rotten meat and putting it in their burgers. TV shows discussing the incidence not only showed one side of the story: the rotten side, but they completely disregarded the fact that most Lebanese restaurants have high standards when it comes to handling their meat. I am not a journalist but shouldn’t someone who has studied journalism expose both sides of a story and not seek out a story just because of the ratings entailed? It happened before with Tony Khalife and his Lel Nashr show. Simply put: you know you’re overreacting when you go to a place like Roadster’s and are worried about the meat they have.

To put things into perspective, our consumption of meat yearly is about 400,000 tons. The rotten meat confiscated by the authorities was 185 tons. That’s less than half a percent. Maybe the problem is more widespread than just those 185 tons. But it remains that most of the meat we eat is not rotten. Most of the restaurants we go to are not filthy.

Perhaps the more interesting question to ask in the case of this rotten meat debacle is how this meat got detoured from Israel to Lebanon and who’s truly responsible, instead of putting all the blame on restaurants whose only fault was not to open a butcher shop in their premises to procure their meat.

Happy Palm Sunday

My very first Palm Sunday. Had a death in the family so my parents couldn't take me.

I remember when I was a little boy and my parents used to take me, along with my brothers, to go buy new clothes for Palm Sunday. I used to hate it. My parents used to love it. Any opportunity to have their kids compare to others, right?

My dad loved to dress my brothers and I in some funky stuff. I remember them taking us to church wearing unmatched socks once – one red and the other yellow along with sticky things that they glued on our ears. Needless to say, many people in my hometown were not particularly happy. But my dad has always been the “eccentric” one. You should hear the stories I’m told about him in his younger days.

And don’t get me started on the candle. Every single year, we buy a new candle to carry and every single year it turns out to be the most useless thing. You try to lit it, the wind blows it off immediately. You try to walk with it but it’s heavy. And more often than not, twenty minutes into the proceedings, it breaks in half.

But you know what, as my 22 year old self types this and misses out on the proceedings, I cannot help but feel notsalgic to the times when I really was excited about Palm Sunday rolling around. I’ve recently noticed as well that most of our photographed memories are taken on Palm Sunday. As you go through albums, you can see as your whole generation grew up year after year. Until you all stopped going bit by bit and a newer generation took over.

Easter in Lebanon is apparently among the best in the world. Palm Sunday is just the beginning.

Here’s to us becoming parents in the future and spoiling our kids on Palm Sunday. Have a blessed day everyone.

 

 

Lady Gaga Coming to Lebanon for Byblos 2012 Festival Concert?

The newest rumor circulating around is that Lady Gaga has decided to take the whole “Lebanon” references of her songs to the next level and actually show up in the country for a concert at the Byblos 2012 Festival, as part of The Born This Way Ball.

I can already hear the shrieks of the little monster echoing all the way to New York (or wherever she may be).

The Byblos 2012 Festival has hosted many internationally recognized artists like Scorpions and 30 Seconds to Mars. But perhaps the most “in” artist it will host, if this turns out true, is Lady Gaga.

Will the arena be big enough for all the people who want to go? I don’t think so. Prepare for some serious black market prices if you cannot snatch your tickets early.

Will you be going? Or are you, like me, not tempted by the whole thing?

Earth Hour in Lebanon

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Observing Earth Hour in Lebanon begs the question: what’s the point?
And if you think about it, there isn’t any. How so?

Well for starters, half of the country will forcibly go dark at Earth Hour. Yes, electricity shortages will hit. It defeats the purpose of voluntarily switching off your lights for an hour when you’re involuntarily going through the process every day. And not just for one hour.

We also have a gas prices crisis so you know people aren’t going around like they used to. It’s just so expensive to go that kilometer by car nowadays. So we walk instead. It’s greener, healthier and we get to enjoy the beauty of our urbanized mountains.

Moreover, we’ve had the rotten meat fiasco lately. So many people have drastically decreased their intake of the substance, thereby going greener – literally. And you know “green” food is more eco-friendly than cows and goats.

So for all matters and purposes, our carbon footprint has been rendered so meaningless that it would register as a statistical error in studies. Everyday in Lebanon is Earth Day. We should receive a medal for it.
I, for one, am not turning off my lights for the hour of grid-connection I get. I have them turned off for the other 23.