In 1984, I shot a militiaman. Story at the Lebanese Without Frontiers substack, to which I highly recommend you subscribe. It's full of fascinating material aimed at creating a collective Lebanese memory through personal recollection (and it's free): lebanesewithoutfrontiers.sub…

Google Earth updated the images of Gaza. It's devastating.

This is really a story built on nothing but speculation. Perhaps those arrested in the U.K. were planning something, but if there was evidence, they would not have been released on bail. The Iran angle is merely conceivable, but otherwise unproven. This may prove to be a giant nothingburger, and the evasive language of the authorities is suspicious. nytimes.com/2026/09/28/world…

In an interview, Ian Lustick and @EliClifton discuss their new book on the Israel Lobby in the United States, and how its actions are not only undermining U.S. interests abroad, but also civil liberties at home, at Diwan: carnegieendowment.org/middle…

Hussain wants a monopoly over Shia voices in Washington, but hasn’t set foot in the country for ages, therefore slimes visiting Lebanese Shiites who oppose Hezbollah and actually live in Lebanon. He’s not alone. Other insecure DC-based Shiite think tankers have done the same.

Three ruptures have helped accelerate the move away from a Pax Americana in the Middle East, I argue in my latest for Diwan. The article is based on a recent talk at a conference hosted by the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament: carnegieendowment.org/middle…

Two days ago I was talking with a friend about the killing of Israeli officers at the Wimpy Cafe in Hamra in 1982. When I opened my Insta account later on, the first thing I see is a post on that incident. Obviously, we're being tracked through our phones. This is beyond creepy.

The first thing that strikes me here is why this is not much higher up on the @nytimes homepage. The second thing is that, while we knew from the Haaretz report that MBZ had warned Netanyahu, I was unaware the Israeli military had obtained the actual battle plan for the 2023 attacks in 2022, but that "military leaders dismissed it as unrealistic." Such information, paired with what the Israeli military on the ground was seeing and reporting on, could have prevented October 7. This suggests that Netanyahu was not wrong in blaming the military and intelligence services, but at the same time had much to hide in terms of his own responsibility. In other words, we're talking about a systemic problem: nytimes.com/2026/09/25/world…

مع تعثّر الولايات المتحدة في حربها مع إيران، يُرجَّح أن نشهد تسارعًا في وتيرة فكّ ارتباطها بالمنطقة. @BeirutCalling يناقش. carnegieendowment.org/ar/mid…

مارسيل غانم يتعامل مع الشاشة كأنها ملكية شخصية لا مساحة عامة للنقاش والمساءلة. يمدح من يشاء وبشكل مزاجي ويخاصم من يشاء ويستخدم الهواء لتصفية حساباته الخاصة بمنطق وألفاظ لا علاقة لها بالصحافة. بالأمس افتتح موسمه بهجوم شخصي بالغ الابتذال على النائبة بولا يعقوبيان واستخدم هجومه عليها بوصفه خلاص من "نفايات" ثم انتقل ببساطة إلى محاورة وزيرة البيئة تمارا الزين وكأن ما سبق جزء طبيعي من العمل الإعلامي. الوزيرة الزين لم تنبس وجلست كالتلميذة وأكملت الحوار بلا كلمة اعتراض. المسألة ليست بولا يعقوبيان وحدها. مارسيل ولسنوات استخدم منبره في سياق علاقاته وخصوماته وهو حتماً حليف المنظومة ووجهها الأبرز وسبق أن تفاخر بأن المصرفي أنطون الصحناوي هو «صديق عمره وأخوه»، في بلد لا يزال مودعوه يدفعون ثمن انهيار منظومته المصرفية. مارسيل غانم يقدم لنا علاقاته وخصوماته بوصفها "صحافة". وإذا كان كثير من الرأي العام قد تآلف بفعل النفوذ والمال مع المستوى المبتذل للخطاب الذي يقدمه مارسيل غانم لكن المشكلة الأكبر هي في السياسيين والإعلاميين والشخصيات العامة التي تقبل أن تكون معه وهم أسرى هذا الوهم أنه جلوسهم في حضرته الملوثة وكأنه شأن عادي وسيجلب لهم مشاهدات.. نعم سيجلب لكم المشاهدات فهنيئاً لكم هذا الرخص.. لربما علينا ان نشير بالبنان لكل من يقبل أن يكون جزءا من هذا المشهد المخزي.

Using Netanyahu's math, 73,000 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza would equal the death of around 11 *million* Americans.

As the U.S. stumbles in its war with Iran, we are likely to see an acceleration of its disengagement from the region. @BeirutCalling writes. carnegieendowment.org/middle…

🇺🇸 🇮🇱 🇱🇧 Michael Young @BeirutCalling: “Trump, facing tricky midterm elections, will not anger major donors who support Israel by putting pressure on the Israelis to be more accommodating in Lebanon, especially when the deal his administration helped negotiate was so favourable to Israel. The Israelis could simply cite the accord to push back against any U.S. requests.” 👉thenationalnews.com/opinion/…

Just a few thoughts on the three-hour indirect meeting yesterday at the UN between US and Iranian officials, facilitated by the indefatigable Qataris. It is undoubtedly a good thing that the two sides have resumed contact again, even though we are now back to Qatari mediators shuttling messages between them rather than the two sides talking directly to each other. But it is also true that the two sides remain very far from each other. The positive manner in which Trump, in particular, described the meeting, as a result, leaves the impression that this was more performative than substantive. That is, yet another effort to calm the markets and reduce further negative impact on the upcoming elections. Why else would Trump insist that a deal will be reached after the midterms? That specificity gives the game away. Indeed, part of the calculation on the American side is to make moves now to reduce the likelihood of an Iranian escalation before the midterms. As I have written before, Round 3 of the war is very likely, and from the US standpoint, the preferred timing is after the midterms. But the Iranians are no longer in a reactive mode; if war is coming, they may take preemptive action to deprive Trump of the luxury of choosing the timing of the next round. The most optimal moment to preempt a US attack would be a week or two before the midterms, which is why some limited diplomacy now with the partial aim of reducing the likelihood of such a preemption is deemed useful. And why its achievement is overstated. Full analysis: tritaparsi.substack.com/p/de…

The depth of Israel's international isolation is difficult to fathom if you're just watching mainstream media. But these images do not lie. Look at all these delegates leaving the General Assembly in protest as soon as Netanyahu takes the podium... nitter.net/RimaHas/status/2102652…

As the U.S. stumbles in its war with Iran, we are likely to see an acceleration of its disengagement from the region. @BeirutCalling writes. carnegieendowment.org/middle…

There is little diplomatic consistency in Washington, and no clear-eyed secretary of state to take matters in hand. Opinion | Michael Young @BeirutCalling via @TheNationalNews thenationalnews.com/opinion/…

Michael Young @BeirutCalling: “The first rupture is a moral one. Israeli’s continuing slaughter of the population in Gaza, which has been armed and abetted by the United States and several of its allies, has led many people in the Middle East to conclude, rightfully, that the U.S. order is built mainly on Israeli scaffolding, in which the wellbeing of those in the region, Palestinians in particular, is secondary. It was the Indian writer Pankaj Mishra who described the horror of Gaza as a “final rupture in the moral history of the world since the ground zero of 1945”; and it was Mishra, too, who recalled that George Orwell had written that Palestine was a “color issue.” To many Arabs, Gaza remains a color issue. It is clear to many people that Palestinians do not appear to have the right skin color to enjoy the universal human rights afforded to others whom Western countries, or rather their elites, identify as worthy—whether Israelis on October 7 or Ukrainians in their war with Russia. Israel’s intention to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population of Gaza is reiterated daily by Israeli officials, with the defense minister, Israel Katz (himself a verbal depository of Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity), stating again earlier this month that his government was “organized and prepared to get [the Palestinians] out—by sea, by air, by every way possible.”  On what basis can the United States establish a durable security order in the Middle East if it provides no security, as the ongoing war with Iran has proven, while at the same time showing utter disinterest in the people of the region and their aspirations? That is why there is and always was an inherent fragility in Pax Americana.” (…) “The major countries in the Middle East have zero interest in becoming secondary actors in a movie written by the United States and Israel, nor do they want to place their security in Israeli hands. This constitutes the third rupture with the American order, namely with a notion prevailing since the end of the Cold War that desirable outcomes in the region have to pass through frameworks imposed by the United States—frameworks that are ultimately aimed at upholding U.S. power.” carnegieendowment.org/middle…