AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

The lost heritage

03 Sep 2020

The tower block vultures are circling owners and tenants of Beirut’s heritage homes in the Ashrafieh, Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze neighbourhoods offering to buy 19th century Ottoman and 20th century French...

Lebanon can only be rescued by the Lebanese

30 Aug 2020

Discredited Lebanese politicians have waited until today to commence binding parliamentary consultations on a new prime minister only hours before French President Emmanuel Macron arrives for a two-day visit. As...

The battle on the ballot

27 Aug 2020

Donald Trump and the Republican Party are presiding over the systematic “Lebanonization” of the US by promoting unsuitable people to key jobs on the basis of their loyalty to him...

The Lebanon of today is different from the Lebanon of 2005

23 Aug 2020

Last week’s verdict on the assassination of Lebanon’s ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri delivered by the Special Tribunal based near The Hague was a disappointment for those who wanted a clear...

Dynamic duo

20 Aug 2020

Since the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden finally appointed California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate in the Nov.l election, it is useful to look at where the duo...

A convenient culprit for Lebanon’s port blast

16 Aug 2020

All Lebanon’s political factions and ex-warlords are to blame for the massive blast in Beirut port that devastated three nearby neighbourhoods at a time when the country’s economy has collapsed...

Beirut blast

13 Aug 2020

When I saw images of Beirut’s streets once again strewn with debris and glass shards from the Aug.4 blast in the port, I wondered if my friend Ali and his...

Beirut blast was a disaster waiting to happen

09 Aug 2020

The powerful explosion at Beirut port that devastated nearby neighbourhods was a dreadful accident in-waiting for which the country’s politicians shun blame. In well run countries, presidents and/or prime ministers...

Spreading misinformation

06 Aug 2020

Corona conspiracy theories abound the world over as people struggle to internalise the so far little understood and uncontrolled pandemic that is infecting millions of people and killing hundreds of...

Anger against Netanyahu hits a new high

02 Aug 2020

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is facing the most serious crisis of his long career as the standard bearer of the Israeli nationalist and religious right. For several years middle-aged Israelis...

Michael Jansen

The author, a well-respected observer of Middle East affairs, has three books on the Arab-Israeli conflict.