Lebanon
Memories of War in South Lebanon
Israeli warplanes recently conducted 10 raids on Wadi Saluqi in southern Lebanon, the valley nestled between the villages of Chakra and Hula. This valley holds a peculiar place in my memories, serving as a conduit for impossible events and strange tales, and the attacks rekindled long-dormant memories of the area.
A Dance Troupe’s Victory
It is not a bad faith or cynical reaction most of the time, but it sometimes does make you wonder whether you have agency: if you were given an opportunity because you are talented and hard-working or because you’re a diversity hire, whether your success in an endeavor comes down to your excellence or the pity of an outsider.
How Iran’s Missile Strategy Has Rewritten the Rules of Middle Eastern Wars
Stretching from Lebanon to Gaza and Yemen, Iran has built an extraordinary military alliance. The core of it is Tehran’s homegrown missile program, one that has given its allies surprising abilities — and poses a fundamental, long-term problem for the United States’ role in the Middle East.
Israelis Watch Afghanistan and Remember Lebanon
While Israel isn’t the U.S., and Lebanon isn’t Afghanistan, the common themes that run through both sets of wars are jarring, especially in the way a Western democracy tries to end a military campaign and how it manages (or not) the fate of local allies who fought alongside it.
Missing Anthony Bourdain
It was a dark day. Like earlier generations, who remembered where they were when they learned of the great rock ’n’ roll deaths of the ’60s and ’70s, the moment we heard of Anthony Bourdain’s death will be forever etched in our minds.
When Nature’s Force Turns Into Political Intrigue
We passed 10 firetrucks and other groups in helmets, some in bikinis and without masks. Half of us stayed put, and the other half rushed to help tug at a hose that slithered up a dirt slope and to deliver water bottles to those up there working.
From Belfast to Beirut, A Tale of Elusive Peace
Power-sharing arrangements have attempted to bridge the divisions in the two societies. The Good Friday Agreement and the Lebanese Constitution both aim to provide a form of democracy that protects the minority community from the majority — or, in the case of Lebanon, any of the 18 religious groups from each other.