06.16.08
Are you a high-profile government official? Join in the trend and stop over in Beirut to show your support for Lebanon’s functional democracy while you can!
Condoleeza Rice: one of the few lucky people who can take a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Beirut.
After meeting with reps from the Israeli government yesterday, in which she was brave enough to wave a patronizing finger and say ’shame on you’ to her hosts for the unbridled settlement expansion in the suburbs of occupied East Jerusalem that has planned the construction of 1,300 new houses, she is following in the footsteps of other high-profile Western politicians such as David Milliband and Sarkozy and is dropping by Beirut to “express the United States’ support for Lebanese democracy, for Lebanese sovereignty“.
This trail of famous personalities has left the Lebanese breathlessly wondering who will be the next to visit their superficially and temporarily healed country.
Rumour has it that Madonna might make a special appearance at this year’s Baalbeck Music Festival in July, but that story has sparked concerns amongst the hundreds of thousands in Lebanon’s refugee camps, who fear that the Princess of Pop may perform a child-snatching act in order to add another impoverished, disempowered mouth to her gaggle of third-world adoptees.
Apart from the 12th Imam, other high-profile personalities whose presences are hoped to grace the land of the Cedars in the coming months include Nelson Mandela, Bono and George Galloway, who has apparently received a personal invitation to Lebanon from Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s Foreign Minister.
09.07.08
Why Condi went to Tripoli
Posted in Comment tagged Colonel Qaddafi, Condoleeza Rice, music at 12:04 am by lilithhope
Condoleeza Rice’s self-proclaimed “historic visit” to Libya and meeting with Colonel Qaddafi last week can probably be better explained by the latter’s affection towards the US Secretary of State than any solid geopolitical strategy:
Indeed, it is rumored that after the Colonel had finished serenading Ms. Rice from beneath her second story balcony with a Arabic-English cover of Donna Summer’s “Love to Love you Baby” (no doubt another nod in the direction of a self-confident, African-American woman), the two dignitaries discussed the possibility of the US quieting its accusations of Libyan human rights abuses in return for Libyan facilitation of extraterritorial rendition/torture tasks of US terror suspects; similar to the current deal in place with Libya’s neighbour, Egypt.
Against the intimacy of this recent rapprochement, cynics are questioning the real reasons behind Rice’s trip. Some are saying that this recent move hints that the Secretary of State is setting the stage for a career shift which could come in Janruary 2009, after the November 2008 elections, by weeding out admirers who could potentially come to constitute back-up vocalists in a post-politics career in entertainment.
When questioned about her affiliation to the Libyan president, Rice stated: “Outside the dribs and drabs of internaitonal diplomacy, we really bond through music. He’s introduced me to some cool Arab singers, like Farid al Atrash, while I’ve opened him up to some American singers. He took an immediate liking to Barry White”. With a smile, she added: “Mo has a ravishing voice.”
It is speculated that with another meeting scheduled in October, the two could crack a demo, and, with the right production, a single could be ready for release for the Christmas/Eid el Adha seasons.
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