watching Tripoli
Posted by adiamondinsunlight on August 13, 2008
When I get up in the mornings, the first site I see when I open my browser is the BBC’s news site: news.bbc.co.uk. And when I was in Beirut, I knew that it would be a good morning when Lebanon was not one of the news items bulleted at the top of the page – or, worse, the lead item.
This morning, of course, Lebanon was much in the news, thanks to the bus bombing in Tripoli and President Sleiman’s scheduled state visit to Syria. I had meant to continue my posting theme on the Rachid Karame complex, but instead I’m pasting in a photograph I took of a bread vendor in the heart of the city, who had ingeniously hooked up his television to the electricity supply of a street light:
I’m watching Tripoli today and wondering, as I have frequently over the past two months, about what exactly is going on up there – and what it might portend for the rest of the country.
Tantalus said
I think Tripoli should revise the way it advertises itself. We alway hear about “Tripolis” being a Three Cities and whatnot.
I think Tripolis is called thus because it houses three conflicting groups: Sunnis, Palestinians, and Hezbollah-friendly factions.
For this reason alone, Tripoli will continue to be pulled in three different directions, until it tears at the seams.
Moose said
What amazes the Moose is that life goes on as usual in Beirut as if Tripoli was on the other side of the world.
Tantalus said
Moose, when the southern suburb was being bombed by Israel (I don’t know about you, but being bombed by planes sounds scarier to me than having a bunch of kids shooting at each other), Beirut was party-hardy and Gemmayzeh was business as usual.
The Lebanese people have the highest developed sense of denial.
Global Voices Online » Lebanon: Tripoli’s Attack - More Online Reactions said
[...] A Diamond’s Eye View of the World’s blogger woke up to find news of the explosion welcoming him as soon as his internet browser launched. He reminds himself how no news about Lebanon on the front page is good news: When I get up in the mornings, the first site I see when I open my browser is the BBC’s news site: news.bbc.co.uk. And when I was in Beirut, I knew that it would be a good morning when Lebanon was not one of the news items bulleted at the top of the page – or, worse, the lead item. This morning, of course, Lebanon was much in the news, thanks to the bus bombing in Tripoli and President Sleiman’s scheduled state visit to Syria… …I’m watching Tripoli today and wondering, as I have frequently over the past two months, about what exactly is going on up there – and what it might portend for the rest of the country. Posted by Nash Suleiman Print Version Share This [...]
the road to Tripoli « A Diamond’s Eye View of the World said
[...] by adiamondinsunlight on August 19, 2008 Last week, Moose commented on my post about watching Tripoli [...]