Category: Lebanon

When a tangled web woven unravels

1950s U.S. Foreign Policy Looms Large in Lebanon By Jacob Boswell, July 29, 2022   The Cold War may be over, but the legacy of containment looms large over Lebanon. For decades, the U.S. has been the single largest financial supporter of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), in a bid to balance Iran’s influence in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2022/08/03/when-a-tangled-web-woven-unravels/

Until the next Dahiya

Israel Is in Shock, in a Sickening Show of Hypocrisy By Gideon Levy, Published on 07.08.2020   Official Israel presented itself as shocked at the disaster that struck its neighbor, Lebanon, yesterday. Almost everyone put on a sorrowful face. Except for Richard Silverstein, who writes a blog, Tikkun Olam, no one accused Israel of causing …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2020/08/08/until-the-next-dahiya/

I will remain

In War-Torn West Beirut American James Ragland Stands By His Troubled School By Mary Davis Suro, People Magazine, July 1982     In the Palestinian stronghold of West Beirut, the streets of the Mouseitbe neighborhood were cratered by shells and littered with garbage. Rifle-toting men stood at the corners, their uniforms changing, street by street, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2020/04/16/i-will-remain/

Børre Ludvigsen

I first read Alice’s short statement Monday evening, around 7 PM: “Many of you have already heard this very sad news that I now choose to share here. My brother, Børre Ludvigsen, passed away early this morning. He died peacefully in his sleep, at home; to our complete shock and disbelief. We will miss him …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2020/04/01/borre-ludvigsen/

Serendipity soup du jour

Moroccan Chicken Soup As of 3/15/2020 (and subject to change without notice)   8 cups of water 2 cans (13 oz) ounces of white chicken meat, drained (or equivalent leftover rotisserie chicken, white or dark) 2 cans diced tomatoes, drained 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained 2 cans (4 oz) mushrooms, drained 8 artichoke hearts, halved …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2020/03/15/serendipity-soup-du-jour/

May new joy wait on you

  COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS (page 1) Delivered by William Blakemore at the graduation ceremonies of the class of 1974 of the American Community School of Beirut, Lebanon, held in the American University of Beirut Assembly Hall/Chapel, Friday, June 21, 1974 at 9:00 A.M.   Thank you Mr. Usellis. Parents, teachers, friends and guests, and especially graduating …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2019/10/12/may-new-joy-wait-on-you/

A wrinkle in time

Sometime in the mid-1930s, when my dad was about 12, a Ford Tri-Motor (aka “The Tin Goose”) flew onto a cow pasture just outside of Holdenville, Oklahoma.  For the next several days, for the mere price of a bread wrapper and fifty cents, a person could buy a short flight.  Bereft of even a half-dollar …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2018/05/12/a-wrinkle-in-time/