Dying Thoughts
Since language is everything, a civilization that sneers at its own is already dead.
Juden Über Alles!
In three major histories of WWII – Gen. Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe (1948), Churchill’s The Second World War (6 vols., 1948-1954), and the Mémoires de guerre of Gen. de Gaulle (3 vols., 1954-1959) – there is no mention of gas chambers or the Holocaust
From Communism to Remembering the Holocaust, in Tirana
Linh Dinh reflects on history, religion and ethnicity from downtown Tirana, Albania
Egyptian Dogs, Kenneled Men and a Normalized Albania
Nearly all the self-styled Socialists I’ve met in the West are social misfits who can’t get along with three people, much less the masses. Misanthropes, they hate just about everybody, not just “Fascists.”
Good Morning, Albania!
As I laughed and bantered with some Egyptian friends in Cairo’s Horreya [Liberty] Bar last week, I couldn’t help but think how absurd it was that taverns were fully open in Islamic, restrictive Cairo, while they stayed closed in freewheeling Amsterdam, London, Manhattan and Dublin
Buzzed Cairo, Wrecked Alexandria and a Third-Class Train Ride
Linh Dinh gets comfortable in Cairo before taking a third class train ride, reserved exclusively for Egyptians
Unmatched Cairo
With ordinary life still masked, quarantined, sanctioned and canceled in much of the world, I’m blessed to be in this magnificently alive city.
Goodbye Lebanon
Two months ago, I suspected explosive events by the end of the year, especially near the U.S. election. Despite continuing turbulence everywhere, life has limped on, however, within the sick terms of our new normal.
Beirut, 2020
Linh Dinh explains why today’s Beirut reminds him of Saigon two decades ago
Next Month in Jerusalem!
Trump promised to build a border wall, drain the Beltway swamp and even prosecute Hillary Clinton. Unsurprisingly, at least to Linh Dinh, he has done none of that
Battered But Unbroken Lebanon
Although Crusaders controlled Sidon for over a century, all that’s left of their presence is a broken castle. As the latest invaders of this region will also fade away
Lebanese Snippets
Linh Dinh travels through Lebanon, the home of a fierce anti-Israeli resistance movement and the site of a bitter IDF defeat