Are you a leftist or a Shi’a?

We often hear people deplore the state of ‘Shi’a affairs’. According to this line of reasoning, although “the Shi’a” filled the majority ranks of Leftist parties in the 60s and 70s, they were the most ‘secular’ of all ‘confessions’ in the country, but that a guy like Musa Al Sadr had to screw things up [...]

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The New Remarkz

Do you like the new interface? As you can see I have definitely reached a new stage in the blogging experience… But all this thanks to the one and only Moussa from Urshalim who opened my eyes to the wonderful world of WordPress and had to listen to me trying to make up my mind [...]

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The secular and the religious (Part I): Conceptual confusions

Let’s wrap up the concerns that were voiced over the idea of an Islamic State. This text is a bit disarticulate and is mostly a series of thoughts on the question that I fail to more effectively organize. But I have been trying to produce a decent post about this for the two last weeks [...]

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Civil society busts you in your email

Hey friends, did you know that “civil society” invites you to attend a march that will take place on the 13th of April from the Mar Mikhael Church in Chiyah to Martyr’s Square in downtown? The objective is to remember the ‘martyrs’ who died during the CIVIL (i.e. clan VS clan of people calling themselves [...]

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Fath al Islam: a quick update

Itani has a little update on the state of affairs regarding the bad guys in the north and their friends in the south, in the Palestinian camp of Ain el Helweh. I just want to point out one or two things that I think we can conclude from everything that happened pre and post the [...]

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Do you prefer a "Secular" or an "Islamic" State?

Al haqid, during a lunch we just had, defied me to defend the idea that an Islamic State would be better than a Secular one, especially in the case of the protection of minority rights. Of course here by “minorities”, I mean any group that derive its imaginary sense of belonging from a different tradition [...]

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Christian desperation to be "different"

A disproportionate number of the Middle Eastern country’s Christian men carry a Y chromosome that is clearly of Western European origin, which scientists believe was carried to the region by Crusaders and pilgrims between the 11th and 13th centuries.This genetic signature is more often seen among Christians, and more rarely in Lebanon’s Muslim or Druze [...]

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Tchouang Tseu said

One has to accept everything as it comes,Take account of people as humble as they can be,Execute your tasks even without surveillance,Formulate laws, even if incomplete,Accomplish your duties, even if without enjoyment,Respect the other,Develop love for all creatures,Follow rites without being constrained by them,Know the just measure of an elevated conscience. Adapt unity to change, [...]

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