From Naharnet

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea snapped back
Thursday at Syrian President Bashar Assad over the latter’s criticism of
Lebanon’s so-called dissociation policy. “Lebanon’s continuation of its dissociation policy is
specifically in Assad’s interest, because ‘should Lebanon speak’ it will
definitely be against him,” Geagea said in a statement.

In an interview with Syria’s al-Watan newspaper, Assad
has noted that “Lebanon cannot dissociate itself from the blazes that
are raging around it.” “It cannot endorse ‘the policy of no policy’ or what has been called the dissociation policy,” Assad said.

Although the Lebanese state has officially adopted the
dissociation policy, Hizbullah has sent thousands of fighters into the
neighboring country to help Assad fight an Islamist-led uprising. The party has argued that its controversial intervention was necessary to protect Lebanese border towns from extremist groups.

On the other hand it was also reported that an assassination plot could be planned
against him, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat
pointed the finger at the Syrian regime saying it is the “primary
suspect” behind such a plot, As Safir daily reported Thursday.

Jumblat said he believes that the “biggest winner who
will benefit from my assassination is the Syrian regime which has grown
stronger after the field developments on the battlefront in Syria,” he
told the daily.

“In compliance with the security advice, I am residing
most of the time at Moukhtara. If it was not for a minor surgery that I
had to take in one of my eyes, I would not have come to my residence in
Clemenceau in such circumstances,” he went on to say.

by Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has lashed out at Lebanon
over its disassociation policy approved in 2012, which ensured that
Lebanon’s political factions did not take sides in Syria’s civil war. The
policy miraculously managed to save Lebanon from being dragged into the
brutal war next door, despite the fact that Hezbollah ignored the
policy as it openly fought alongside Al Assad forces in Syria.

In
an interview with the Damascus daily Al Watan, the Syrian president
said, “Lebanon cannot be dissociated from the fires flaring up [in the
region] and [cannot] adopt the policy of no politics or what is called
the disassociation policy.” Observers believe it was a direct
warning to recently elected president Michel Aoun not to forget that he
has to answer to Damascus. “As long as the [president] is a
patriot and works in favour of the Lebanese, Lebanon will become
stronger. And when Lebanon is strong, Syria will be at ease and
stronger,” Al Assad said. Aoun reconciled with pro-Syrian parties in Lebanon too, especially Hezbollah, which chose to fight alongside the Ba’ath regime.

It
remains unclear whether Aoun will now abolish or alter the 2012 “Baabda
Declaration” that was approved by rival March 8 and March 14 leaders —
including Hezbollah — to “keep Lebanon away from the policy of regional
and international conflicts and sparing it the negative repercussions of
regional tensions and crises”.

On Wednesday, Aoun received the
pro-regime Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmad Badr Al Deen Hassoun, accompanied by
Syria’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim, which raised the ire of a
leading pro-opposition journalist, Carol Maalouf. Maalouf
attacked the head-of-state and Cardinal Mar Bisharah Butros Al Ra‘i (who
also welcomed the Mufti) on her Facebook page that mobilised supporters
and opponents alike.

(L-R) Mohamed Baasiri, Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Amr
Moussa, former Secretary General of the Arab League, and Saad Azhari,
Chairman BLOM Bank at a session at the Union of Arab Bankers conference
(MEE/Paul Cochrane)

by Paul Cochrane

by Michael Karam- the national ae

I love arriving at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International
Airport (Rhia). The four-and-a-half hour Middle East Airlines flight
from London is the perfect decompression chamber to prepare both the
neophyte and the veteran traveller alike for the madness that lies ahead
in that the inside of the Airbus resembles the sitting room of a vast
Lebanese home in which every extended family member is represented. Now
of course, it’s all very sanitised. For the full experience, you have to
hark back to the days when you could smoke on aeroplanes and the
fuselage was one massive party. Then it was the real deal.

Even
when flying stiff upper lip British Airways, the captain will more
often than not be unable to resist telling everyone on board that he and
his crew are looking forward to a night out in Beirut. The mind may
boggle, but apparently the global enthusiasm for our dysfunctional city
is contagious.

Disembarking on to the jetty at Rhia offers a host
of sensory stimuli. There is the smell – a mix of aviation fuel,
cigarettes, sweat and after shave – and the sights: the floodlit tarmac,
the bored customs officers, weary dispatchers with wheelchairs and the
slightly less scruffy, clearly more senior officials – “the US$100 men” –
waiting to receive certain passengers – the MP, the minister’s wife,
the designer with a particularly fragile ball gown; it can be anyone –
who for the eponymous fee, they will whisk through passport control and,
if needs be, customs.

By Sean Cronin

The slowdown in the advertising industry
has led one of the region’s biggest agencies to transfer some staff from
Dubai to Beirut to trim costs. Omnicom Media Group is shifting
staff from its Dubai Media City regional headquarters to Beirut as big
brands slash marketing budgets and corporates across the region cut back
on spending.

The agency, whose clients include McDonald’s, hopes
to save as much as 8 per cent on its payroll costs when between 20 and
30 positions are initially transferred to Beirut next year. More are
expected to follow in 2018.

“We
have to adapt to the changing dynamics of our industry,” said Elie
Khouri, the regional chief executive of Omnicom Media Group, in an
interview in Dubai.

“Now you can be in a remote place and do a
lot of things in our business. Of course you have to have the centre
team that are client-facing, but you can do a lot of the back office
work in other places. We were looking at India in certain aspects before
and now we are looking at Beirut to do some of the things we do in
Dubai to save costs.”

#khazen #LebaneseSaints

SANTIAGO, Cuba (AP) — Cuban President Raul Castro said Saturday
that his government will prohibit the naming of streets or public
monuments after his brother Fidel in keeping with the former
leader’s desire to avoid the development of a personality cult.

The younger Castro told a crowd gathered to pay homage to Fidel
Castro in the eastern city of Santiago that the country’s
National Assembly would pass in its next session a law fulfilling
his brother’s desire that, “once dead, his name and likeness
would never be used on institutions, streets, parks or other
public sites, and that busts statutes or other forms of tribute
would never be erected.”

Fidel Castro, who died Nov. 25 at 90, kept his name off public
sites during his time in office because he said he wanted to
avoid the development of a cult of personality. In contrast, the
images of his fellow revolutionary fighters Camilo Cienfuegos and
Ernesto “Che” Guevara have become common across Cuba in the
decades since their deaths.

Raul Castro spoke at the end of a second massive rally in honor
of Fidel as Cuba neared the end of its nine-day public mourning.
Castro’s ashes arrived Saturday afternoon in Santiago, ending a
four-day journey across Cuba that began after a massive rally in
Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution.

By Jeremy Berke

There’s a normal procedure in place for
these types of phone calls since Rutherford B. Hayes first

installed a telephone in the White House in 1877. Everything
is meticulously planned to leave very little to chance.

When President Barack Obama calls other world leaders, for
instance, his aides bring him a National Security Council dossier
that contains a complete intelligence portrait of the person with
whom he’s about to get on the phone. The dossier includes
everything from the leader’s personality and health to
information about their children and spouses — even tidbits like
whether the person likes jokes or small talk, Yahoo
News reported in 2014. 

“The world leader profiles include basic intel,
idiosyncrasies, personal political pressures, whether any close
relatives are seriously ill, girl- or boyfriend problems,
personal health issues,” a senior administration official told
Yahoo News at the time.  Immediately following the call, officials from both sides
will produce “readouts,” or short summaries designed to drive
media coverage. 

by Sierra Marquina, Us Weekly

Don’t expect to get into a political debate with Mark
Wahlberg. The Patriots Day star
told Task & Purpose magazine he
stayed mum during the controversial 2016 election between
Donald Trumpand Hillary Clinton because he doesn’t think
celebrities should discuss politics.

“A lot of celebrities did, do, and shouldn’t [talk
politics],” he told the magazine, explaining that A-listers
aren’t on the same playing field as the common voter. “They might
buy your CD or watch your movie, but you don’t put food on their
table. You don’t pay their bills. A lot of Hollywood is living in
a bubble. They’re pretty out of touch with the common person, the
everyday guy out there providing for their family.”

However, despite his own major celebrity status, Wahlberg
considers himself to be in touch with the everyday man. “Me, I’m very aware of the real world. I come from the real
world, and I exist in the real world,” he said. “And although I
can navigate Hollywood, and I love the business and the
opportunities it’s afforded me, I also understand what it’s like
not to have all that.”