An independent firm, the International Crisis Group (ICG) published yesterday an in depth and balanced report on the current situation on the Christians in Lebanon. It’s a good read. Not your usual know it information. It had many information and historical backgrou

nd on each of the major Christian movements as the re-emrged in 2005, and have each played a role in the political life. The document focuses mainly on what the situation will turn out for the Lebanese 2009 elections, which will be mainly be played in the Christian arena.

I strongly encourage the interested to read it, its in PDF format, or if you do not have PDF, and prefer the plain Word format. Special thanks to: Eiffel.

I would consider this circle’s usual reader as the sort of intellectual.

For a Sunday afternoon leisure, I seldom present lectures and documentaries being filtered to provide the finest of world ideas, critical thinking and latest craftsmanship in rascality. I encourage you to watch this 45 minute documentary on fake goods.

I leave you to your own judgments on this topic and recommend to be immune to the background music, as directors like to suggest emotions to certain scenes. This documentary is fairly new.

[France 24] La Syrie et le Liban ont décidé de nouer des relations diplomatiques et d’ouvrir des ambassades dans leurs capitales  respectives, une première depuis l’indépendance de leurs pays, décision annoncée à Paris après une série d’entretiens sous l’égide de Nicolas Sarkozy.

La première annonce a été faite par le président de la République Nicolas Sarkozy à l’issue d’une rencontre au palais de l’Elysée avec son homologue syrien Bachar al-Assad, et le président libanais Michel Sleimane.

Pour la France, c’est un progrès historique (que la Syrie ouvre) une représentation diplomatique au Liban et que le Liban ouvre une représentation diplomatique en Syrie”, a affirmé M. Sarkozy.

“Ca peut paraître curieux que ce soit moi qui le dise? Mais nous nous sommes mis d’accord pour que ce soit présenté ainsi“, a-t-il ajouté en parlant d’un moment “historique”.

Naturellement, il y a un certain nombre de questions juridiques qui doivent être réglées”, a-t-il encore dit.

Le président al-Assad a ensuite confirmé “l’échange d’ambassades” entre Damas et Beyrouth.

More and more, the initial idea of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be developing into a real leap for the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

The Lebanese president Michel Sleiman announced publicly during the French president’s visit to Lebanon, that Lebanon supports the proposed Union for the Mediterranean.

Union for the Mediterranean (MU)
(Wikipedia) The Union for the Mediterranean (French: Union pour la Méditerranée) is a proposed community of European Union member states and countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea planned to be established tomorrow.

With all the divisions and wars among the nations listed in the map, it is hoped that an institutional core will be established by the end of the French presidency of the European Union in 2008. On 23 October 2007 Sarkozy invited all Mediterranean leaders to a summit in France to take place in June 2008 where they would “lay the foundations of a political, economic and cultural union founded on the principles of strict equality“.

French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner wrote a promising article for Le Monde titled, Europe : l’avenir passe par la Méditerranée, I highly suggest a good time to ponder on it and reap the possibility.

World renowned surgeon Michael Dabaghi, or Michael Ellis DeBakey, died of “natural causes” at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas on Friday night at the age of 99.

Brief History
In 1959, Dabaghi performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy, a surgical procedure to correct the carotid artery, which is located in the neck. Two decades earlier, he had been one of the first medical professionally to perform coronary artery bypass.

Among other achievements, Dabaghi was also a pioneer in the development of an artificial heart, and was the first surgeon to successfully use an external heart pump in a patient and performed the first successful patch-graft angioplasty, which became known as the DeBakey artificial graft.

Dabaghi and his team of surgeons were among the first to record surgical procedures on film in the 1960s and, in the late 60s, moved to the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In 2006, he inaugurated the Michael E. DeBakey Library and Museum at the Baylor College.

In 1987, then-President Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Science. Dabaghi was a Health Care Hall of Famer and a recipient of the UN Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, he was cited as a “Living Legend” but the Library of Congress and in 2008, Dabaghi received the Congressional Gold Medal.

Government & Politics

The economy is flourishing, we have a president after 18 months of stalemate, we just got a cabinet in parliamwent, and the government is able to do its job now, so it can leave us, the people, alone.

Tourism

As this blog always mentioned, we were always fine, it was the politicians that ruined it for us. Well it has been settled, Lebanese Expatriates are flooding in like madness. The apparent overload of people is obvious to any local. As for us expats, its practically impossible to find space for a single seat on MEA, Air France, British Airways, Alitalia, Olympic and even Czech Airlines (!)… I’ve tried first hand to change my ticket and it is impossible, to get in or out as its all fully booked! So if you’re thinking of changing your ticket… or purchasing one, think again, and Good Luck. It is usual for overbooking in Lebanon.

As for Lebanese Expats from the East, our writers of the inner circle coming in from the Gulf are finding it slightly better, but even then, they say you need connections with the travel agents.

Social nightlife

Which gets me to my topic of this post. The nightlife is wild and vibrant as ever. Everybody expects this summer to be the peak since 2004 ~ 2005. With all the after hours and after after hours that are publicly known, and unpublicized tucked in undergrounds, I have one request to you all, try not to make it too obvious the next morning. This video cracks me up! Lets’ try and avoid being so obviously apparent!

Nothing pleases me more than to announce today that Lebanese-Canadians made history in July, by consecrating a full-time educational institution in the heart of Canada’s capital, which is a major milestone for the community. The school is called the Providence Academy and is run by the Antonine Sisters, a Maronite Catholic order that originates in Lebanon.

The school accepts girls and boys, offering classes from kindergarten to grade 8 and progressing over the years to add classes up to the secondary level (grade 13). The academic program is trilingual: French and English are taught as a first language and Arabic (or another international language) as a second language. The academy offers a trilingual program developed in accordance with the Ministry of Education in the province of Ontario.

The opening ceremony was attended by Massoud Maalouf, Lebanon’s ambassador to Canada.