Hani Hassan Profile picture
Disgruntled citizen - Living under a criminal regime of rampant impunity as of Aug. 4, 2020 ( Alternate reality account: @PhilOTheMist )
Philippe Bustros Profile picture 1 subscribed
Dec 6, 2023 7 tweets 1 min read
🧵

A list of archaic concepts - Preserved here for posterity's curiosity:

1. International law: the body of legal rules, norms, and standards that apply between sovereign states and other entities that are legally recognized as international actors. The term was coined by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

(source: Britannica)
Sep 23, 2023 11 tweets 2 min read
🧵 Lamenting the lamentable..

In recent conversations with friends & family, I find we are more & more coming to terms with the reality that Lebanon is very well past its point of no return, & it is more & more evident that the Lebanon we knew is simply never coming back...
1/9
Whatever may have been that Lebanon we knew before (or thought we knew) is simply gone & best relegated to the filing cabinet of nostalgic memories..
It is simply gone & decayed, beyond any hope of resurrection.
It is best that we affirm the loss, embrace the grief
2/9
Aug 11, 2023 17 tweets 7 min read
The A&M forensic audit report is over 330 pages, & I imagine must be an invigorating read.. Already in the first 30 pages or so I came across some rather 'interesting' observations, shared below:
1/n
2/n
The report confirms payments made out to Forry Associates Ltd, & notes that BdL "failed to provide any further documentation or explanation" on the relevant book entries, & A&M could not identify any records to confirm that services were actually provided.
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Jun 27, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
I see many people in #Lebanon (both locals & expats) commenting along the lines of "things seem to be back to normal"... A statement which in any 'normal' country or 'normal' socio-political context would indeed be cause for some celebration.
1/5
However, when things in Lebanon go back to 'normal', that is cause for fear & dismay... For Lebanon's normal is anything but normal!

Things going back to normal means the regime is fully back to business as usual, with the deliberate recession that impoverished millions
2/5
Dec 23, 2022 12 tweets 3 min read
A long 🧵 of remarks & reflections inspired by a conversation over coffee with @henrichaoul

* The fundamental crisis that #Lebanon is facing is not a fiscal crisis, nor a policy one, nor an identity crisis, but a deeply rooted crisis of values & moral principles
1/12 * Over many decades (well before the so-called civil war) we seem to have deliberately & methodically set ourselves the task of eroding any moral value system we may have had (no, we are not talking about petrified traditions & religious dogma, but moral principles as such)
2/12
Nov 5, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
For many years now, I have thought of moral bankruptcy as being a key factor in the state of affairs that is #Lebanon... Moral bankruptcy, hand in hand with financial bankruptcy & sociopolitical bankruptcy.
But today I realize I may have been misunderstanding

1/8
the whole affair all this time.
What we have at play is not moral bankruptcy, but crude moral corruption & depravity.
It is not that there are no morals, but rather that there is a conscious & deliberate violation of all things moral

2/8
Sep 28, 2022 11 tweets 2 min read
Random (?) 🧵
Male ego fragility as 'anti-feminism'

Every day I see more & more self-avowed anti-feminists, proudly declaring their ideas & ideologies as some emergent call-to-action in the face of 'extreme' feminism & the (purported) threat it poses to family, society..
1/11 & the 'natural order' of things.

Perhaps the first remark to note here is that there is nothing novel or avant garde in being anti-feminist. This movement dates back to the mid 19th century, & emerged around the time that feminism first made its appearance.

That aside:
2/11
Mar 28, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
As we move steadfast into #election season (which in many ways seems to be playing out as a sort of political mating season), I am noticing a rather interesting phenomenon, which some may find worthy of a research project/case study:
1/8
I believe there may be a direct correlation between the shrinking temporal distance to election day & the increased spread of public displays of absurdity.
You may say absurdity has always been our bread & butter (or bread & olive oil).
& that may be true, absurdity abounds.
2/8
Mar 27, 2022 10 tweets 2 min read
More than two years into a series of "unprecedented" calamities in #Lebanon, & despite a glorious stretch of uprising & rebellion, & countless moments of rage interjected with twice as many moments of despair, we remain frozen like so many deer in the headlights...
1/10 We are not frozen out of a lack of will or some self-inflicted incapacity.. We (& by "we" I mean a largely silent collective of anti-regime citizens) are quite simply proverbial deer staring down the headlights as they zoom flashing by one after the other after the other..
2/10
Dec 25, 2021 10 tweets 2 min read
This morning's timely #trivia

💫 Christmas 🎄

The oldest English language reference to Christams as the occasion celebrating the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus comes from Old English "Cristes mæsse" (i.e. Mass on Christ's Day), eventually becoming one word mid 14th C
1/10 Putting aside debated connections to pagan celebrations of the winter solstice (such as the Norse Yule & the Roman Saturnalia), the earliest known celebration of Christmas was some time in the 4th C, spreading to Egypt by the 430s & to England by the late 500s.
2/10
Dec 24, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
My earliest memory of a #ChristmasEve celebration comes back to me every year around this time...
I must have been around 6 or 7 years old, & we were gathered at a family friend's home in beautiful Ain Zhalta. The house was a short distance in off the main road..
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There were pine & other conifers around it, all lightly covered with snow, though I don't recall much snow on the ground.
There was no electricity, & no generators polluting the lull of the eve. Nothing in the air but the scent of burning wood from stoves inside the homes..
2/5
Aug 30, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read
🧵 What does it mean to live in #Lebanon these days?
1. Primarily, living in Lebanon means the thuggish regime has not yet killed you (through direct assassination, wilful incompetence, or just pure criminal negligence).
1/11 2. It means living hour-to-hour, or day-to-day if fortunate.
3. It means waking up with the following thoughts being your first of the day:
Do we have electricity?
Hot water?
Can I/ should I run the washing machine?
Do I have enough gas in the car in case of emergency?
2/11
Aug 10, 2021 8 tweets 2 min read
🧵 Nothing but a #rant

I am quite literally unable to work.
I am unable to sit in the sweltering heat in a darkened make-shift work space at home tethering my laptop to the 3G (is it even 3?) on my phone so I can get through part of the day's work, when every nerve & fibre
1/8
in my body & mind is silently screaming every curse word I have ever learned, & many new ones I am inventing on the daily, hurling them at every president, minister, MP, militia leader, war-lord current & former, pharmacy lord, fuel-station lord, bank lord (...)
2/8
Aug 10, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
I have kept myself away from Twitter most of this past day/night..
My nerves are really tightly strung, & my mind a chaotic playground for devout pessimism.. So I figured a bit of time off would do them good.

I log on, & the first 4 tweets I catch on my #Lebanon timeline

1/7
have to do with the power cuts: stories of sleeping (rather: inability to sleep) in the heat, others of extremely low mobile or computer battery charge, & one post even asking when will the people say "enough"!

But perhaps that's just it. Perhaps the people won't say enough

2/7
Dec 15, 2020 10 tweets 2 min read
Post-Taif Agreement Federalism in the Republic of Greater #Lebanon 🙃
A #thread in 8 parts plus a post script: 1/8
Federalism allows for power sharing among constituent groups & entities (be they sects, ethnic groups, recognized 'minorities', etc)

Post-Taif Lebanon: "Check"
Dec 14, 2020 5 tweets 1 min read
Imagine dear friends a country that suffered a cataclysmic explosion due to criminal negligence by the 'ruling class', an explosion that killed over 200 people & injured over 6000!
Now imagine an investigation that drags & drags.. & drags..
Until more than 4 months later...

1/5
the attorney general in charge finally indicts some of those deemed responsible: a caretaker Prime Minister, an ex Minister of Finance, & 2 ex Ministers of Public Works.
Now imagine that those indicted refuse his invitation for interrogation..
Pretty bizarre so far, right?

2/5
Dec 14, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
A propos some of the recent discussion on re-envisioning #Lebanon's political system, today's bit of 'useless' #Trivia is dedicated to
𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 🙃

The term federalism as a political union is first attested in 1787 referencing American federalism..

1/6
In its broadest sense, federalism actually seeks a strong central government along with the distribution of power between the central government & constituent entities, & thrives on negotiation between the constituents & central authority.

The term itself is derived from..

2/6
Jul 5, 2020 10 tweets 3 min read
An open letter to the youth of #Lebanon 🇱🇧

I am sorry.
I am sorry because I & my generation failed you, miserably.
We failed you when we excused ourselves for doing so little to change what we knew had to be changed, when we sank into defeatism & apathy...
1/10 & when we then decided to throw the whole burden of #change on you.

We had our times & moments, when we rose up against enemy occupation that came from South of our country, & then again against that which came from the East cloaked as 'friend' & disguised as 'ally'...
2/10