Lebanon | GlobalPost

Of borders and other divisions

HDS GreenwayMay 4, 2009 18:42Updated May 30, 2010 12:54

Thirty years ago I was crossing the Jordon River from Israel to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordon to interview King Hussein, the father of the present monarch. I passed over the Allenby Bridge from Israeli control, displaying blue and white Israeli flags, to the Jordanian side, where most pretended that Israel didn’t exist.

Clinton visits, much remains the same

bgilbertApril 29, 2009 18:52

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton passed just below my office the other day. The police had blocked off the streets, leaving a crowd of backed-up cars on the highway as Lebanese tried to come into Beirut on the sunny Sunday morning. About 15 minutes later, a 15-car convoy full of armored Chevrolet Suburbans with blacked out windows came barreling through, Iraq Blackwater style. Five minutes later came another convoy, sirens wailing, Lebanese army soldiers hanging from their trucks’ windows, as yet another diplomatic (decoy?) convoy raced past.

Worldfocus on Hezbollah entering into mainstream Lebanese life and politics

WorldfocusApril 28, 2009 14:42Updated May 30, 2010 12:54

Lebanon is preparing for elections that could dramatically alter the leadership of the moderate country. One of the expected big winners is Hezbollah, which commands a huge and growing influence in Lebanon.

Lebanon's basketball addiction

Ben GilbertApril 18, 2009 13:03Updated May 30, 2010 12:52

BEIRUT — Roger Abouabdo is Lebanese but his aspirations match those of many American teenagers: He dreams one day to play professional basketball. The skinny 14-year-old says his favorite players are Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. “I’d like to do like them, to be an NBA star,” he said, taking a break between basketball games to pose for a picture with buddies from his team, called “Killers.”

The madness of George

Michael MoranApril 18, 2009 09:51Updated May 30, 2010 12:52

NEW YORK — It's all out there now, in all its vivid madness. America's democracy, on "Justice Department" stationery, impaling us on the horns of our own sanctimony. Paragraph after paragraph of banal, mediocre legal prose, the work of the department's "Office of Legal Counsel" attorneys, who are now back in private practice (or on a federal bench).

Four Lebanese soldiers killed in ambush

bgilbertApril 13, 2009 17:23

Four Lebanese soldiers died Monday in an ambush in the hinterlands of Lebanon's Bekka Valley. The assailants attacked the soldiers' vehicle with small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire on a major road and in broad daylight. An officer is reportedly in serious condition. The main suspects are the powerful clans who control the growing and smuggling of drugs in the valley.

Lebanon's political season kicks off

Ben GilbertApril 13, 2009 09:42Updated May 30, 2010 12:52

BEIRUT — Banners and billboards have begun to spring up around Lebanon bearing avatars of smiling or scolding politicians jockeying for parliamentary seats in the upcoming June 7 parliamentary elections. At election rallies, political leaders, called “Zaeem” in Arabic, smile and wave and make pronouncements, but in the end, there’s really only one issue.

Financial crisis sends Lebanese packing ... for home

Ben GilbertApril 3, 2009 07:04Updated May 30, 2010 12:51

BEIRUT — Twenty-eight-year-old Rony H. moved from his native Lebanon to Dubai in 2003. The city was in the midst of a decade-long building boom, its famous glitzy towers and man-made islands still under construction. Rony eventually settled for a job as a broker in the red-hot real estate market in 2007. “I was making more than $10,000 per month,” he said. “It was easy money.”

Life behind bars becomes theatre

Ben GilbertMarch 25, 2009 08:25Updated May 30, 2010 12:48

BEIRUT — Convicted murderer Youssef Chankar has been an inmate in Lebanon’s high security Roumieh prison for 18 years. By 2008, he says, he had lost touch with most people outside the prison, save for his mother and brothers. As the years dragged on, his life looked increasingly bleak. “The last few years, my psychological status was very bad. I was really tired. I used to work at the workshop, then I stopped going. I just stayed in my room for 17 days,” he said.

Going downhill fast — and loving it

Ben GilbertMarch 18, 2009 07:10Updated May 30, 2010 12:47

KFARDEBIAN, Lebanon — The music thumped and the tall, slim models wore barely anything, despite the snow covering the hill above them. The wind blew, the sun shone and 2,000 people in ski boots and designer sunglasses gawked and snapped pictures as girls in skimpy nightgowns paraded on the catwalk. This was the scene at Lebanon’s Mzaar ski resort during the annual weekend lingerie show in early March.