by techxplore.com — Hashem Osseiran — In a break from social media mud-slinging and Lebanon’s perennially polarised debates, audio app Clubhouse is hosting a new kind of conversation in the crisis-hit country. Users say it is achieving a little miracle: free-wheeling political discussions across party lines which don’t descend into blows. Lebanese both at home and abroad have welcomed the break from the acrimony dominating TV and social media platforms. “Clubhouse helped people on opposing ends of the political spectrum understand each other’s perspectives,” said Paula Naoufal, a 25-year-old journalist active on the app. “It gave people a space to listen, unlike Twitter and Instagram, which aren’t as interactive.”

The live audio app, launched nearly a year ago, is accessible only on Apple mobile devices—but the coronavirus pandemic has boosted its popularity in the Middle East. Syrian users have used it to discuss the 10-year-old conflict and life in exile, while Saudis tackle political reform, racism and transgender rights, despite growing fears of state surveillance. In cash-strapped Lebanon, Clubhouse is a something of a premium service, with an iPhone costing more than ten times the minimum monthly wage. But experts, journalists and expats active in its virtual “rooms” say they are carving out a space for constructive conversation between people who either never engage with each other or are usually at odds. “Clubhouse has become a safe space for people to hear each other and more importantly learn from each other and about each other,” said Joe Khawly, a Lebanese journalist living in Washington DC. “It’s creating a space where people from different religions and political affiliations are able to virtually meet and talk directly.”

Out of the bubble

by Doreen Abi Raad — cruxnow..com — BEIRUT — In Easter messages, two Catholic patriarchs criticized the situation in Lebanon and urged the faithful to cling to the hope of the Resurrection despite the prevailing darkness. One of the patriarchs also visited Syria, where he called for the international community to lift sanctions. From Lebanon, Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of Maronite Catholics, noted that “the joy of the Resurrection is mixed with tears of sadness, pain and anxiety, yet in our hearts there is a hope stronger than despair.” Pope Francis also prayed for Lebanon in his message “urbi et orbi” (to the city of Rome and the world) on Easter at the Vatican. With a collapsing economy and more than 50 percent of the Lebanese now below the poverty level, Lebanon has been without a government since the resignation of the previous one in the wake of the deadly blast in August at the port of Beirut.

Rai denounced “those who intentionally block the formation of the government and paralyze the state.” “There are parties that adopt a methodology of demolishing the constitutional, financial, banking, military and judicial institutions, one after the other,” he said from Bkerke, the Maronite patriarchate north of Beirut. It is “now clear that we are facing a plan which aims to change Lebanon, its system, its identity, its formula and its traditions.” The cardinal reiterated his calls for the neutrality of Lebanon and for holding a U.N.-sponsored international conference to save the country. Such a conference, he stressed, “will give Lebanon a new life by stabilizing its entity, its international borders; by renewing the national partnership; by strengthening its sovereignty, its independence and its army; implementing international decisions; and resolving the issues of refugee and displaced Syrians.” With a native population of around 4.5 million, of which less than 40 percent is Christian, Lebanon has absorbed approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees. In his Easter message from the patriarchate in Beirut, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan said people in Lebanon “are groaning under the weight of hunger, want and poverty.” “Lebanon deserves to be ruled by the elite of its citizens and not a corrupt and fundamentalist clique hiding behind its sects to wreak corruption, theft, torture and abuse of its citizens and people,” he said.

by naharnet — Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said that it would be unreasonable for the Lebanese to “waste all their sacrifices and martyrs for the sake of domestic caprices and foreign schemes.” “That’s why we invite all Lebanese for a moment of conscience in order to renew recognition of Lebanon as a final homeland, and to translate this recognition into ultimate allegiance to the Lebanese homeland and to an independent, legitimate and free state,” al-Rahi said in his Easter Mass sermon. He lamented that Lebanon has reached the current wretched state of affairs due to “the poor political performance, the lack of maturity in governance and the negativity of political choices.” He added: “How can we celebrate the holidays while half of the Lebanese people are in a state of hunger and some of them are below poverty line? “How can we rejoice while our vibrant manpower is emigrating without looking behind, including university graduates, doctors, engineers and specialists?” al-Rahi wondered.

  نعتز بالشقيقة مصر التي تفتخر بتاريخها وتستعيد ألق حضارتها عبر احياء موميات “ملوك”،  في حين نبحث نحن عن جنس “الملائكة” متناسين تاريخنا وحضارتنا ندعم الاستقرار في الاردن ، يكفينا الاضطراب في لبنان ومن حوله فلسطين وسوريا والعراق .

King Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania (pictured far right) attend the wedding ceremony of Prince Hamzah and Princess Noor (left) alongside Hamzah’s mother Queen Noor (centre)

by bbc.com — The former crown prince of Jordan says he has been placed under house arrest as part of a crackdown on critics. In a video passed to the BBC by his lawyer, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, the half-brother of King Abdullah, accuses the country’s leaders of corruption, incompetence and harassment. It comes after a number of high-level arrests said to be linked to an alleged coup plot. The military earlier denied Prince Hamzah was under house arrest. But it said he had been ordered to stop actions that could be used to target the country’s “security and stability”. The move apparently comes after a visit by the prince to tribal leaders where he is said to have garnered some support. Prince Hamzah has denied any wrongdoing and said he was not part of any conspiracy. Meanwhile, regional powers including Egypt and Saudi Arabia have voiced support for King Abdullah. The United States, which is allied with Jordan in its campaign against the Islamic State group, described the monarch as a key partner who has its full support.

What does the prince say? In the video recorded on Saturday, he says: “I had a visit from the chief of general staff of the Jordanian armed forces this morning in which he informed me that I was not allowed to go out, to communicate with people or to meet with them because in the meetings that I had been present in – or on social media relating to visits that I had made – there had been criticism of the government or the king.” He says he was not accused of making the criticisms himself. However, he went on to say: “I am not the person responsible for the breakdown in governance, the corruption and for the incompetence that has been prevalent in our governing structure for the last 15 to 20 years and has been getting worse… And I am not responsible for the lack of faith people have in their institutions. “It has reached a point where no one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened.” High level political arrests are rare in Jordan, a key US ally in the Middle East. The country has a powerful intelligence agency that has been granted new powers since the coronavirus pandemic, which has drawn criticism from rights groups. Egypt, the US and the Saudi Royal Court have expressed support for King Abdullah.

by Robert Nicholson & Toufic Baaklini — nationalinterest.org — There is still hope for Lebanon, but time is running out. Failure to act will create a new forward base for malign powers looking to project the chaos of the Middle East into the Mediterranean, Israel, and Europe.he imminent collapse of Lebanon is certain to give Iran, Turkey, Russia, and China the perfect foothold to project power against Europe’s soft underbelly and Israel’s northern border, but the United States and its allies currently seem too preoccupied to care. Beleaguered friends inside this resource-rich enclave on the Mediterranean Sea are begging for help, but the response from Western powers has been

Far & Wide — The collapse of a multiethnic and multireligious democracy—what St. John Paul II called a message of pluralism and coexistence—will eradicate that message in the place where it is needed most. It will hand the region over to malevolent forces and send a message to the world that America is an unreliable ally that balks when the going gets tough. President Joe Biden can prevent a foreign takeover in Lebanon, but only if he acts quickly. Given the high stakes, he and his team should do exactly what our friends are asking them to do: lead the way for an international summit that will push for Lebanon’s political reform, recognize its formal neutrality, and open peace talks with its neighbors.

A Crisis at Fever Pitch — Once upon a time, Lebanon’s robust economy and picturesque landscapes gave it a reputation as the “Switzerland of the East,” but these days rampant corruption and foreign occupation have pushed the country over the edge. Aided by a bevy of crooked oligarchs, Iran and its proxy Hezbollah maintain their stranglehold on the country under the pretext of resisting the Jewish state. Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah recently announced that his stockpile of precision-guided missiles has doubled in just one year, inviting war with Israel even as Lebanese families struggle to make ends meet. That Nasrallah and his cronies hide their missiles in civilian areas only proves his disregard for their well-being.

By Abeer Abu Omar Bloomberg –– Lebanon must be willing to implement some real changes in order to get international funding assistance, according to the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa vice president. “Lebanon needs to help itself, so that we can help it,” said Ferid Belhaj in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday. […]

by NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Beirut’s famous sidewalk cafes are facing an uncertain future amid the coronavirus pandemic and dollar exchange rate instability, with employees and owners warning that “the price of a cup of coffee cannot keep pace with the exchange rate.” The recent lockdown, which lasted for two months and 22 days, meant further problems for the capital’s cafes, the place of choice for many Lebanese to relax, wind down and socialize. Many have closed amid the country’s economic turmoil, while several were destroyed in the port explosion last year, and have since been left abandoned. Lebanon’s health measures to stop the spread of coronavirus mean that people are banned from sitting with each other to smoke, sip coffee, chat about affairs or discuss the country’s future. Ali Farhat, 35, an investor in a sidewalk cafe in the Azaria building in downtown Beirut, remembers the “good old times in the area before the protests and the accompanying riots started in late 2019 and the days before the collapse of the Lebanese pound and coronavirus.”

He added: “The area was bustling. The cafe was a place for entertainment, hanging out with people, winding down for half an hour during workdays and having a snack. Everyone back then could afford to sit in a coffee shop. “Today, downtown Beirut is deserted, the employees moved to work from their homes, and my work has become limited to selling cigarettes, coffee and tea to passersby and the security forces guarding downtown Beirut. “The worst financial crisis has caused the prices to soar. As the dollar exchange rose, I stopped selling my goods and closed the store, because the next day, I had to buy goods at a higher price.”

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon’s top Christian cleric has made unusually direct comments criticizing the Shi’ite Hezbollah movement, accusing it of harming the country by dragging it into regional conflicts. “I want to tell them…You want us to stay in a state of war that you decide? Are you asking us before you go to war?” Maronite […]

by middleeastmonitor.com — Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has asked why the UN-sponsored talks between Lebanon and Israel on maritime border demarcation around potentially oil- and gas-rich areas have stopped. Jumblatt heads the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon. He wrote on Twitter that he was surprised by “the death of demarcation” after Parliamentary Speaker Nabih […]