Tag Archives: UK

A List Of Major World Leaders That Passed While Lebanon Has Nabih Berri

nabih-berri

With the United States getting Trump *shivers* as their new president, and regardless of what one would think of the new administration (if you need help, it sucks), transition of power and changing politicians is a sign of a healthy democracy (at least until the new face of democracy cancels it out).

So to celebrate our version of democracy, I felt like putting the stagnation of the Lebanese political system in perspective with how the World Leaders have changed while Nabih Berri remained where he is.

USA:

5 presidents: George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump.

France:

4 presidents: François Mitterand, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande.

UK:

5 PMs: John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May.

Germany:

3 Chancellors: Helmut Kohl, Gerhard Shröder, Angela Merkel.

Italy:

11 PMs: Giulio Andreotti, Giuliano Amato (2 non-consecutive terms), Carlo Ciampi, Silvio Berlusconi (3 non-consecutive terms, Lamberto Dini, Romano Prodi (2 non-consecutive terms), Massivo D’Alema, Mario Monti, Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi, Paolo Gentiloni.

Canada:

6 PMs: Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau.

Australia:

6 PMs: Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd (2 non-consecutive terms), Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Malcom Turbull.

Russia:

3 presidents: Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin (2 non-consecutive terms so far), Dmitry Medvedev.

And for fun – Lebanon:

4 presidents: Elias Hrawi, Emile Lahoud, Michel Sleiman, Michel Aoun.

8 PMs: Omar Karami (2 non-consecutive terms), Rafic Hariri (2 non-consecutive terms), Selim Hoss, Rachid Solh, Najib Miqati (2 non consecutive terms), Fouad Sanioura, Saad Hariri (2 non-consecutive terms), Tammam Salam.

I’m just saying.

The Uselessness of the Lebanese Passport: Lebanese Band The Wanton Bishops Refused UK Visa

We pretend fleetingly that the situation of the Lebanese passport is acceptable. Sure we have to wait a while to get our visas. Sure we get preferential treatment at airports sometimes. Sure we sometimes get special queues reserved for us. But it’s the way things are.

A friend of mine who was traveling to the United States was pulled aside during his layover to be questioned. They immediately recoiled when he told them he was in a possession of a permanent residency.

My best friend went to hell and back trying to procure a visa to go to Europe for nothing more but touristic purposes where he’d spend his well-earned money and return.

Our passport is the world’s most expensive and grants is enters to so few countries we’ve come second to last position. And we are all victims – except the politicians who should work on fixing the situation but are so pleased with their special passport that they couldn’t care less about us poor commoners.

The latest casualty in the ongoing Lebanese passport massacre are local band The Wanton Bishops who were supposed to participate in a festival in the United Kingdom and who had their visa application to the UK rejected as per their tweet:

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I guess those visa rejections our passports amass are exactly what’s needed to make us stand out in the crowd of those who book airplane tickets and fly away. They’re exactly what is needed to know precisely what those embassies we apply to think of us.

Ease of bureaucracy, who needs you. Plenty of opportunities, who needs you too. But hey, at least we’re proud to have some parts of the country on terrorist lists everywhere.

White iPhone 4 Available For Order

It seemed to many that the white iPhone 4 would never happen. But apparently, it’s a certainty now.

The U.K’s 3 Online Store had the white iPhone 4 available, starting April 20th.

You can check out the listing here.

The white iPhone 4 was supposed to launch alongside the black one in June 2010, but unforseen production complications saw Apple postponing the release many times until it looked like they buried the product.

Tweets around February re-sparked the interest in this iPhone as many Apple insiders and employees tweeted about how “beautiful” it was.

Apple had confirmed last week that the white iPhone would see a late April release date and it looks like it’s now set for the 20th.

So for those still holding out for a white iPhone 4, your time has come.