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It’s been 27 years now since Bachir Gemayel has been assassinated, and every year I can’t help but wonder what could have happened if Bachir lived and remained as a president for Lebanon..?

Israel wouldn’t have invaded Lebanon, the Lebanese civil war could have ended earlier than 1990, a Beirut – Tel Aviv highway could have been created (similar to Beirut – Damascus highway!)… and for some reason Rafic Hariri could have lived!

What do you think?

Back in 1994, Youssef Shaaban was convicted for shooting a Jordanian diplomat in Beirut and got life sentence in prison.

In 2002, a court in Jordan found that others were responsible for the murder and convicted them! So logically speaking, Youssef Shaaban turned out to be innocent, however it was impossible to release him since the issued rulings could be overturned unless by a presidential pardon.

Three days ago, president Michael Sleiman pardoned Youssef Shaaban and he was granted freedom yesterday in Beirut.

That was in brief the story of Youssef Shaaban.

I have seen in the media how everyone was giving credits to the president for pardoning him, but I was thinking what if Youssef Shaabad was really the one behind killing the diplomat?

In a special episode of Kalam El-Nas with Marcel Ghanem last night, Shaaban himself admitted that he played a “role” in the Lebanese civil war in addition to being a member in Hamas. Remember that the reason behind the assassination of the Jordanian diplomat was because Jordan and Israel were in negtiations to sign a peace treaty, that’s a good motive for Hamas to commit the crime no?

In addition, those who are supposed to be the real murderers were executed in Jordan, and god knows how did the Jordanian police (maybe) made them admit they were responsible for the assassination. Now how can you assure that Youssef Shaaban is innocent? The Lebanese judicial council made a mistake by convicting Shaaban, so how can you assume the Jordanian rulings were flawless?

To me the crime is still a mistery. Think of it, the guy might really be the one behind the assassination.

I never imagined I would use Twitter someday! The whole idea behind it was silly to me, and I was always like what’s the big deal about broadcasting to the world what did I have on lunch?! Facebook alone was enough, and it was becoming annoying with all the apps that my friends add and start spamming me with!

Early in May, I was thinking about a way to increase the traffic on this blog, so I thought of re-activating my account on Twitter and combine with Twitter Feed to automatically generate a tweet containing a link to any post I publish. So I was thinking of it as a marketing tool!

Few days later I was surprised to find much more active Lebanese users than I expected, and they were all tweeting about interesting stuff, though it was mostly about the parliamentary elections at that time, but still I found it interesting and entertaining. So I started engaging myself in the game and suddenly got addicted to it. For many reasons!

1. It is NOT silly. Twitter is really different than Facebook’s status update, it’s on Facebook where you share silly stuff and the more you update your status the more you entertain your friends! Do the same on Twitter and your followers count will drop, no one wants his/her front page on twitter to be full of trash messages.
2. It’s informative! Thanks to the URL shortening services, people can tweet about interesting links. They might not always contain valuable information, but I prefer to receive them instead of Facebook’s poker chips and silly quizzes
3. You get to meet some seriously nice people there. In terms of privacy, Twitter is totally opposite to Facebook. In Facebook you are, most of the times, concerned about protecting your personal information and keeping strangers from having access to your profile. Where as on Twitter, strange people follow you and vice versa, and you will eventually make friends with those you reply to their messages frequently.
4. Twitter users are the “elite” users of Facebook
5. The great tweetups you attend every now and then. Twitleb is doing a great job gathering the Lebanese users, thanks to her we met at KUV Capital‘s office today!

So what are you waiting for? Go get a Twitter account and don’t forget to follow me!!

Dear readers,

I am currently working on my final project for one of my MBA courses (Contemporary Management), and the subject is “Talent Management”.

To fulfill the project requirements, I am requested to get at least 100 person to fill a questionnaire I prepared about talent management on this link.

Filling out the survey will take less than 5 minutes, and I would really appreciate your help!

P.S: You shuld be working in the Lebanese market.

I usually spend a good time everyday following the updates on the Lebanese blogsphere, and I lately came across two nice blogs.

The first is “Hummus nation“, a very funny blog acting as a national news agency from the Hummus nation and reporting daily news (and breaking news sometimes!) about various matter. The latest news reported the phoenix bird being accidentally shot by hunters using RPG’s at Dawra. T3isho.
I’d love to know more about the anonymous author of Hummus Nation, it would be nice if he/she posts an “About me” page. From the writing style I think he’s a man who has gone through the Lebanese Civil war, probably in his mid or late thirties. And the first letter of his name is … oh well khalas.

The second is “Maya’s Amalgam“, authored by Maya Zankoul (not Zakkour!!). It’s just like any other peronal blog, except that Maya is using illustrations to deliver her opinions, messages and daily observations, a bit similar to what Mireille does at Life Geeked.
I have gone over several posts on her blog, and so far all her stories are short, amusing, and interesting. Matches my reading requirements at work!

I took this photo a while ago in “De Prague” at Hamra. I was just having fun doing some compositions with the candle in the frame.

However, after yesterday’s results in the first grand prix of the 2009 formula one season in Melbourne with Raikkonen finishing 16th and Massa 17th, I beleive I should light a candle for them! A BIG ONE!!

Is it only me? Or do others also feel that Hamra resembles to New York? (Tsu2, I’m not out of my mind yet).

I used to rarely go to Hamra until recently when I got bored of all the other places like Downtown Beirut and Achrafiyeh, which are currently being heavily invaded by “wozziyyeh” teenage boys and girls especially on weekends!

Few weeks ago I went there in a hopeless attempt to find some new nice spot, and I was surprised by how beautiful Hamra is! Although I live in west Beirut, but since ever Hamra meant “traffic jam” to me, so I have always avoided passing by there. It isn’t like I have NEVER passed by Hamra before! But I’ve never passed and noticed the nice places I’m observing today.

The numerous neighboring shops, the cozy restaurants and cafés and the cozy streets, they all remind me of New York. I know that for some people there is no way to compare, but I have almost re-experience the same feeling I once had in New York everytime I go to Hamra for a walk.

I can call the Hamra area as “Little New York”… and no, once again I tell you that I’m not out of my mind yet!

I hate waiting… I HATE WAITING!

All I am waiting for is a SMALL e-mail and I am running out of patience…

Update:

Never mind, I got it! What a relief!!

I liked to wish you a merry Christmas with this photo I took of the dazzling Christmas tree decorating Beirut downtown.

So, Merry Christmas everyone!

Here is something fun, I’ve been tagged by my friend Antoine Khater for what is called “5 Things Meme”.

Here are my answers, I hope the 5 people I tagged will respond too!

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
1) Attending school!
2) Playing lot of video games
3) Daydreaming
4) Growing up…
5) Wondering what will I be doing after 10 years

5 Things On My To-Do List Today
1) Get more organized
2) Manage my time efficiently
3) Dedicate more time for my MBA courses
4) Post on my other blog
5) Take more care of my fighter fish

5 Snacks I Like
1) Godiva chocolate
2) Flavored yogurt
3) Hot chocolate cup
4) Can’t think of more..

5 Things I Would Do If I Was A Millionaire
1) Buy a house on Beirut seaside
2) Buy a bloody red Ferrari
3) Start my own business
4) Buy GOOD photography gear
5) Start a second business of my own!

5 Places I Have Lived (For Various Lengths Of Time)
1) Beirut
2) North Lebanon
3) Turkey

5 Jobs I Have Had
1) Network Operator
2) Database administrator
3) Nothing more..

5 People I Tag
1) Jester
2) Sietske
3) Diamond
4) Lilzi
5) Posh Lemon