For those in Beirut, join us this Thursday, for the last screening of “The Third Rahbani” at Metropolis Cinema documenting the life and legacy of Elias Rahbani. The film’s team, of which I had the pleasure to be part of, will be there, headed by director and dearest Feyrouz Serhal.

“Beirut never asks you to come back to it. It entices you to and makes you come back out of your own volition." Very happy for the American University of Beirut's MainGate magazine feature with a small piece on Beirut. Read the excerpt, with new commentary, on the blog 👇eyeontheeast.org/2025/08/31/bei…

🔎 For a glimpse of Lebanon’s “golden ages,” when stereotypes were born and a modern, carefree, dreamy, Oriental image of the land of the Cedars was portrayed, now showing at the “Impressions of Paradise” exhibit in Beirut’s Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion of Culture.

#Beirut

Join us TODAY for a panel discussion on "Building an Arab Voice on the Governance of Global Public Goods" on the sidelines of the second annual MENA Think Tank Forum. 📆Tuesday, September 16, 2025 ⏰5:00 PM 📍the Basile Antoine Meguerdiche Conference Hall (IFI Auditorium - Level

📕 The things that matter are still standing, in spite of it all… Virgin Megastore 📍 Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport

📢The joint IFI at AUB - PPIA call for Junior Fellows Program is out. Apply or share with those who fit the profile for this great opportunity - open to three different profiles - based at the institute. For more details on each call, application requirements, and deadlines 👇

During my first trip to Qatar last year, visiting its National Library was one of the trip’s highlights, a modern space in appreciation of the new and old, and the written word first & foremost. For those in #Doha, you can find “And So We Drive On” on مكتبة قطر الوطنية | Qatar National Library (QNL)’s beautiful shelves.

Featuring original works from the AUB community — celebrating Beirut’s irresistible charm and contradictions through Marina Chamma’s words. “Beirut never asks you to come back… it makes you want to.” aub.edu.lb/maingate/Pages… #AUB #AUBVibes

Since it appears like the “new” government is prioritizing the same old rusted habits of old - easy fixes to fill the public coffers, e.g. traffic tickets - the least of reforms to consider is to make it easy on law-abiding citizens to pay the tickets. 🐣 #LebanonTheMessage

🎆Happy to report that after wandering through 2 floors of the Justice Ministry, getting one judge's signature, receiving 3 separate receipts, making 3 separate payments on 3 different counters, and depositing the proof to another office, I am free again; my record is clean ✌️

"Life is lived differently by those who subsist off of their imaginations, who build out of ideas, and who thread the fine line between reality and fiction." Read the latest on the blog: "Pablo Neruda: Poetry (and Fiction) and the ‘Products of Mankind’ " eyeontheeast.org/2025/10/12/pab…

🌎Join us on Oct. 20 for a discussion on Lebanon's Foreign Policy, tackling the historical challenges in adopting a sovereign foreign policy, while looking ahead towards reforming Lebanon's diplomatic apparatus to be better equipped to face current challenges. For more details👇