The symbol of Lebanon!

aub

Liban • Tripoli • juin 2011 by du bruit dans la tete on Flickr.

Out of Venice
58.5 x 76”
ink, watercolor pens and acrylic on canvas

(loc: Lebanon)

The symbol of Lebanon!

(by kara o’keefe)

(by kara o’keefe)

Beirut, Lebanon Junior Girls’ College library in...

Bait El Deen

I suspect this will come to be the dominant interpretation from now on:

….Though the decision to retaliate in force was inevitable, it also meant that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) was taken by surprise and did not have time to prepare properly. Of the entire vast order of battle, only five regular brigades were immediately available. Moreover, these brigades had spent years doing little but carrying out counter-insurgency operations in the Occupied Territories. As a result, they had almost forgotten how to fight a real enemy; he who fights the weak will end up by becoming weak. Some of the burden fell on the Israeli Navy which shelled Lebanon’s coast, imposed a blockade, and cut the country off from the world. In doing so, one of its modern ships was hit by an Iranian-built surface to sea missile, suffering damage and taking some casualties. Since this was the first time in thirty-nine years anything of the kind had happened, it was a considerable propaganda victory for Hezbollah. At the same time it proved how much the crew had underestimated the enemy, since they (perhaps acting on their superiors’ orders) had not even switched on the vessel’s electronic defenses.….

”Stark raving mad” (majnun, in Arabic) was, in fact, the way many people in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world reacted to the Israeli attack. As the statements of several of Hezbollah’s top leaders indicated, they too were surprised by the strength of the Israeli reaction. None of the organization’s original objectives were achieved. Its fighters remain in prison; the Israeli “occupation” of Shaba Farm continues; and Jerusalem, which it set itself as its ultimate objective to liberate, remains as firmly in Israeli hands as it has been during the last forty-four years. What the war did do was to show that, in case of war, neither Syria nor Iran would necessarily come to Lebanon’s rescue. The country’s infrastructure was left in ruins. Thirty thousand dwellings were destroyed or damaged, and dozens of bridges, underpasses, and gas stations demolished. Hundred of thousands of people were forced to flee, and as many as 2,000 killed.

I wrote a piece with a similar message last year. Looked strictly from the framework of their objectives, both 2006 and Cast Lead achieved a narrow sort of deterrence. Given the duty of the government to protect its citizens from harm, this is appropriate and should be considered a success.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t larger problems with Israeli grand strategy and defense policy, but the success or failure of Israel’s wars should be judged on the basis of the policy objectives that these Israelis set themselves.

Beirut Tour 2010

EARLY HISTORY OF THE REGION

Before the Hebrews first migrated there around 1800 B.C., the land of Canaan was occupied by Canaanites.

“Between 3000 and 1100 B.C., Canaanite civilization covered what is today Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon and much of Syria and Jordan… Those who remains in the Jerusalem hills after the Romans expelled the Jews [in the second century A.D.] were a potpourri: farmers and vineyard growers, pagans and converts to Christianity, descendants of the Arabs, Persians, Samaritans, Greeks and old Canaanite tribes.”

-Marcia Kunstel and Joseph Albright, “Their Promised Land.”

El Tanoura - Fares Karam

Deir el Qamar, Lebanon

Beirut, Lebanon Junior Girls’ College library in 1946.

From the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress.

Via the Wikimedia Commons.

Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

Liban • Tripoli • juin 2011 by du bruit dans la tete on Flickr.

Yuri Mrakadi- Arabyion ana - Album “Arabyion Ana 2000”

???? ????? - ????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??? ??? 2000

this is where i’ll be todayyy. (taken in 2008)

Good morning Saida, Lebanon. June 25th. 

Liban • Beyrouth • juin 2011 by du bruit dans la tete on Flickr.

Liban • Tripoli • juin 2011 by du bruit dans la tete on Flickr.

Photo

Some favorites taken in Peru. 

Peru (by natalie shepard)

Inti Raymi (Quechua: inti = the sun; raymi = celebration)

Inti Raymi is the celebration of the God Sun, the most venerated god in Inca religion. According to Inca tradition, Pachatutec, the first Inca, created the Inti Raymi to celebrate the winter solstice which marked the first day of the New Year in the Inca calendar. The winter solstice begins on June 21 but according to the Incas, the sun stays in the same place until the 24^th when it finally rises. Therefore, every year on June 24 the festival of the Inti Raymi takes place in the city of Cusco… Read more

i’m making Ajם de Gallina today. fuck yeah.

One month from today is the 100th anniversary of when explorer Hiram Bingham III found Machu Picchu.

Did you know Machu Picchu is not actually the Lost City of the Inca?

When the explorer Hiram Bingham III encountered Machu Picchu in 1911, he was looking for a different city, known as Vilcabamba. This was a hidden capital to which the Inca had escaped after the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1532. Over time it became famous as the legendary Lost City of the Inca. Bingham spent most of his life arguing that Machu Picchu and Vilcabamba were one and the same, a theory that wasn’t proved wrong until after his death in 1956. (The real Vilcabamba is now believed to have been built in the jungle about 50 miles west of Machu Picchu.) Recent research has cast doubt on whether Machu Picchu had ever been forgotten at all. When Bingham arrived, three families of farmers were living at the site.

Read more of Machu Picchu’s secrets here. 

La norma que oficializa la declaraciףn del aסo 2011 como el “Aסo del Centenario de Machu Picchu para el Mundo”, fue publicada hoy en el cuerpo de Normas Legales del diario El Peruano. En los considerandos del Decreto Supremo No 116-2010-PCM, se seסala que este dispositivo contribuirב a fortalecer a nivel internacional la imagen del Perת, como un destino turםstico importante,

propiciando con ello un mayor flujo de turistas receptivo e interno, elevando el consumo y creando oportunidades de trabajo. Puntualiza tambiיn que durante el aסo 2011 se consignarב dicha frase en los documentos oficiales.

Precisa que el santuario de Machu Picchu, obra cumbre  del Imperio Inca, es considerado como uno de los monumentos arquitectףnicos  y arqueolףgicos mבs importantes del mundo, uno de nuestros recursos culturales y naturales que mayor reconocimiento ha merecido a nivel mundial.

Recuerda tambiיn que por ello ha sido declarado como “sitio de patrimonio mundial cultural y natural de la humanidad” por la Unesco, y elegido como una de las “Nuevas Siete Maravillas del Mundo” por la Fundaciףn New Open World.

Agrega que el aסo 2011 se cumple el centenario en que se dio a conocer al mundo la existencia del santuario de Machu Picchu, efemיride que resulta de suma importancia ya que a raםz de ello, ha concitado gran interיs turםstico, cientםfico e histףrico.

  Seסala, ademבs, que el santuario representa un motivo de orgullo para todos los peruanos lo que contribuye a la unidad nacional. 

 

 

IMG_7183 by jessieDella on Flickr.

Universitario de Deportes vs Alianza Lima Semifinal Copa Libertadores 2011 Sub-20! (23-06-11) 

Salzburg, Austria (2007)

Salzburg, Austria (2007)

Potsdam at night (by mdoors)

Potsdam at night (by mdoors)

Photo

Fleeing from paparazzo.

Lopsided.

Salzburg

9 days. I’m gonna miss this magical place.

One of many funny little statues in the garden park area. Dima enjoyed a nice afternoon nap on a bench nearby! A necessity when hostel traveling!

And another famous fountain from “Do Re Mi” :). Beautiful gardens surrounding this and the palace nearby!

Rick Steves: Salzburg, Austria and Surroundings:

Rick Steves reports on our current home, Salzburg and touches on Hallstatt where we hope to visit tomorrow!

Travel: mozart’s city

10 days could not pass fast enough.

Mufti of Lebanon: Palestinians are trash, unwelcome: So much for pan-Arab unity and...

As I watched the horizon, I remembered everything. You. Me. Us. Then, I remembered how you crashed my heart into pieces too.

Lebanon - Summer ‘10

 Hezbollah and its allies rose to a position of unprecedented dominance in Lebanon’s government on Monday, giving patrons Syria and Iran greater sway in the Middle East.

Lebanon’s prime minister announced a new Cabinet dominated by the militant group and its allies Monday, after five months without a functioning government. The feat caps Hezbollah’s steady rise over decades from resistance force against Israel to Lebanon’s most powerful military and political power. (Read More)

Art Core Crew in #Beirut with #mosa #graff in the city #lebanon (Taken with Instagram at Corniche Manara)

Please don’t

whilst I appreciate your anger, you’re going to have your country bombed back to the stone age by Israeli retaliation, at the hands of their “Defence” Force

1. Lebanon has 18 religious communities.  
2. It has 40 daily newspapers.
3. It has 42 universities. 
4. It has over 100 banks (that is banks and not branches of a bank). 
5. 70% of the students are in private schools. 
6. Many of the Lebanese people are Christians (The highest percent in all the Arab countries) 
7. There’s 1 doctor per 10 people in Lebanon (In Europe & America , there’s 1 doctor per 100 people). 
8. The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament. 
9. The name CEDAR ( Lebanon ’s tree) appears 75 times too in the Old Testament!! 
10. Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 9 times (this is why it’s compared to The Phoenix). 
11. There’s 3.5 Million Lebanese in Lebanon. 
12. There’s around 15 Million Lebanese outside Lebanon !!!

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:   
1. Lebanon , the country, was occupied by over 16 countries: 
(Egyptians-Hittites-Assyrians- Babylonians-Armenians- Persians- Alexander the great’s Army- the Roman Empire- Byzantine- the Arabian Peninsula-The Crusaders- the Ottoman Empire- Britain-France- Israel). 
2. Byblos (city in Lebanon ) is the oldest, continuously living city in the world. 
3. Lebanon ’s name has been around for 4,000 yrs non- stop (it’s the oldest country/ nation’s name in the world!). 
4. Lebanon is the only Asian/African country that doesn’t have a desert. 
5. There are 15 rivers in Lebanon (all of them coming from its own mountains). 
6. Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in its archeological sites, in the world!!! 
7. The first alphabet was created in Byblos (city in Lebanon ). 
8. The only remaining temple of Jupiter (the main Roman god) is in Baalbeck (The City of the Sun),Lebanon. 
9. The name of BYBLOS comes from the BIBLE!!! 
10. Lebanon is the only non-dictatorial country in the Arab world (Yes, we do have a President!) 
11. Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon , in Qana (The miracle of Turning water into wine). 
12. The Phoenicians (Original People of Lebanon) built the 1st boat, and they were the first to sail ever! 
13. Phoenicians also reached America long before Christopher Columbus did. 
14. The 1st law school in the world was built in Lebanon , in Downtown Beirut. 
15. People say that the cedars were planted by Jesus’s own hands (This is why they’re called ‘The Cedars of God’). 
 

This is the exact synonym of MOVING ART.

America's Next War Theater: Syria and Lebanon?:

This particular article was written by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya. An intelligent insight of what’s really going on in the Middle East and America’s role in the region.

10 days could not pass fast enough.

View of an old Greek-inspired palace, from Frederick the...

Universität Potsdam, Berlín - Alemania

View of an old Greek-inspired palace, from Frederick the Great’s retreat palace, Sans Souci (Without worry)

Potsdam at night (by mdoors)

Potsdam at night (by mdoors)