Tag Archives: Lebanon

McDonald’s New Lebanon Branch – Batroun


The McDonald’s franchise is opening up a new branch in the coastal Lebanese city of Batroun as part of what looks to be an aggressive expansion campaign.

The Batroun branch has been set at an old fashioned Lebanese house, completely renovated for this purpose, right on the main road.

The two-story house/restaurant’s interior is composed of state of the art equipment that contrast with the rustic exterior. I have to say, this is probably the most amazing McDonald’s restaurant in Lebanon, if not everywhere. It combines both tradition with the future.

But the question begs itself: how successful will this branch be in a city known for an overflow of restaurants that offer cheaper burgers and sometimes better food?

Don’t expect many outsiders to come to this branch. After all, other branches are only a ten minute drive away. This McDonald’s is for the people in Batroun, a not very populated city. Will the returns be enough to cover the cost? I doubt. It’s still a nice place to look at though.

Check out the pictures I took of the place while passing by:


Scorpions Concert In Lebanon

German rock band Scorpions chose Lebanon to be part of their international farewell tour with 3 concerts taking place at the Byblos International Festival on July 4th (a date added later due to overwhelming demand), 6th and 7th.

The first concert ended today and social media users who attended are reporting it to be extravagant. According to twitter user Rodrigue Saad, more than 40 drumsticks were thrown to the crowd, as well as countless guitar picks. Moreover, they had 4 encores to satisfy the hungry Lebanese crowd.

The band sang their some of their most famous songs such as Wind of Change, Still Loving You as well as songs from their newest album.

This is the complete setlist:

Sting In The Tail
Make It Real
Bad Boys Running Wild
The Zoo
Coast To Coast
Loving You Sunday Morning
The Best Is Yet To Come
Send Me An Angel
Holiday
Raised on Rock
Tease Me Please Me
Dynamite
Kottack Attack
Blackout
Six String Sting
Big City Nights

Encore:

Still Loving You
Wind Of Change
Rock You Like A Hurricane
When The Smoke Is Going Down

These are pictures taken by a Facebook user of the concert.



And this is a short video courtesy of Twitter user MWNader:

Dear Lebanese Army, What’s This Fuckery?

Every Lebanese (and non-Lebanese) who has been to the North has to pass by a Lebanese army checkpoint at the Madfoun bridge, known as the infamous Madfoun checkpoint.

We used to pass by that checkpoint every day, not caring about it since it wasn’t that problematic to through. But now, every single time you go through the checkpoint, you:

1) Get stuck in unbelievable traffic,

2) Solve a barricade puzzle with your car,

3) Take another driving test, which most Lebanese people undoubtedly need.

And why’s that? Because by the looks of it, the only spot where the Lebanese army decided to reinforce law is the Madfoun checkpoint, even removing the more necessary checkpoint outside Tripoli, which was set up after the Nahr El Bared incidence with the terrorist group of Fath Al Islam.

The new reinforcements include barricades placed left and right (and if they could, I’m sure they would have put some floating in the air) and road bumps that are as bumpy as you could get (they actually add these for a week then remove them because they could damage cars).

Why so? Are the people of Jbeil going to attack the people of Batroun? Or is Batroun the filthiest area of the country when it comes to crime?

I understand my state is the entry district to the North. But I can think of many other locations where such a checkpoint might be more beneficial to fight crime and would cost even less manpower, money and time. Besides, don’t you think a criminal would take the longer inside roads to North Lebanon, instead of a checkpoint that has been here for decades?

And for God’s sake, if you want to keep it, how about you open up the freaking side road that you keep for hotshot people so it doesn’t take me ten minutes to cross a fifty meter stretch of road?

Lebanon’s STL Indictment

6 years later and the moment many were waiting for is here. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has issued its indictment against four Lebanese men, suspected of being involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, back in February 14th, 2005.

And as has been expected for more than a year, the suspects are Hezbollah-related individuals. The names don’t matter. After all, most of us don’t even know who these men are or what they do with Hezbollah exactly. Based on the biographies TV Channels are running, some of them seem to be very important people in the ranks of the party.

Their names are as follows: Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hasan Aineysseh and Asad Sabra.

Mustafa Badreddine is the brother-in-law of Hezbollah’s assassinated commander Imad Mughniyeh and he eventually replaced Mughniyeh as Hezbollah’s chief operations officer. He is also said to be the mastermind and supervisor behind the Hariri assassination.

Everyone needs to know that an indictment is very different from a verdict and I hope no one in the Lebanese political scene acts rashly in the following few days, be it positively or negatively. These said suspects are awaiting trial where they will be allowed to present their case and seek to be acquitted and, at the end of the day, may well turn out innocent.
By the looks of it, the Lebanese street is still quite relaxed. The two opposite neighborhoods that have become characteristic of both Lebanese sects/Political sides involved in this conflict: Beirut’s Southern Suburb (Dahye) and Tariq Jdide are still going at their day normally, as if nothing happened. The interpretation of the indictment is of different nature in each: the first thinking it’s political and the second believing it’s a just verdict.
At the end of the day, we are all part of the same country and our main goal is to get to a conclusion for this dark period of Lebanese history.  Hopefully the path towards this goal won’t be filled with unnecessary bumps by rash politcians that make life harder for every Lebanese.

Attention Lebanese Expats: You Can Vote in 2013!

Having my American family over these past 3 weeks, Lebanese politics and elections were always a topic of discussion whenever we got together. And one of the recurring elements of that discussion was how much those family members wanted to vote in the Lebanese elections that took place in 2009. Some of them were even wondering if voting would be worth a trip to Lebanon in 2013.

Lebanese expats everywhere, or at least in the United States, wonder no more as by the looks of it, you will be able to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections, set to take place in 2013. All you have to do is register by December 31st 2012 to be eligible.

A friend brought my attention to this as he stumbled on a pdf document posted at the website of the Lebanese consulate in New York.

The document, which you can download here, discusses the registration procedure as either one of two ways: go to the consulate personally with the required paperwork (valid Lebanese ID or passport) or mail the attached affidavit, after having it notarized, to any of the three Lebanese consulates in the United States, along with a copy of any Lebanese identification document.

Nothing is said, however, about the practical aspects of this vote. It is mentioned that the ministry of of Interior and Municipalities is undertaking the necessary measures to allow such a vote to happen.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for the political system in Lebanon. Now let’s hope for a voting system that allows fair representation to all.