Category: Sackville’s Memorial park

First, please let Bambi begin this post by stating the following: Journalist and author Roula Douglas is known for measuring each word she writes, whether on social media or in her published articles or novels. Regardless of the project, the end result is always an elegantly written and thoughtful message.

Bambi can only read Ms. Douglas’ tweets, as they are public. She is not on Facebook herself (yes, “voluntary dinosaurs” did not go extinct). Thus, she cannot enjoy Ms. Douglas’ Facebook posts. However, over the years, she keeps hearing positive feedback about her reflections from faithful readers in Canada, Lebanon, France, African countries, and beyond…). She hears this feedback from both strangers and close friends. Indeed, to many of us, Ms. Roula Douglas is a role model at many levels.

Today, Bambi would like to thank the journalist in her sister (and thank Twitter too) for allowing her to have access to the most recent information about Beirut and our world. She will translate to you her French tweets from the best of her capacity. Regardless of the language, the news are not only shocking but also deeply worrisome, as you can see for yourself…

First, you will see the tweets, than their translation or any additional comment.

Ms. Douglas wrote: “In Baabda (where I reside), members of the Municipality alerted the authorities to the risk of having a dangerous storage of explosives. Following these accusations of the Municipality President, the authorities interrogated her for 7 hours!”.

Bambi went to check the Facebook source above, which is an interview of this Municipal politician in Arabic. She was shocked to hear her say that two other dangerous sites exit in a Golf Club in the Southern suburb of Beirut, in addition to the Seaport (part # 12 that exploded). The Lebanese authorities, who spent 7 hours interrogating her, also tried to intimidate her by accusing her of serving the interests of the “Zionists”. Can you imagine? Just by raising the concerns of her citizens! Instead, they should do something about this and stop taking Lebanese people for idiots. They are the corrupt AND criminal idiots rather, not the population.

Ms. Roula Douglas wrote: “The authorities stopped the search every day at 6 PM—90 days before sunset”.

This lady broke Bambi’s heart ☹. She also feels angry to hear her story, in a courageous interview she gave to Al Jadid TV station. As she said, her son Ibrahim, was happy. He found a job at the port, paying him the equivalent of CAD$4.37 per hour. He went missing after the appocalyptic explosion. The Lebanese authorities stopped the search at 6 PM, each day (90 minutes before sunset). Not only that. It took them 4 days to find him. He may have been still alive. She added: The foreign medical rescuers found his body. Not even the Lebanese authorities. This did not prevent the latter from proceeding with his burial without his mother’s presence. Can you imagine more cruelty than that!?

Mr. Riad Salame is Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor. Check the message above in English about his overseas assets.

Ms. Roula Douglas wrote: “Just imagine Lebanon, for one second, a brief second only… Imagine if its officials and party leaders defended the interests of the people with the same tenacity used by some supporters to defend the small interests of their leaders”.

Ms. Douglas wrote: “3 men were coldly killed yesterday, in their village of Kaftoun, by armed men riding a car without a license plate. Will we ever know the identity of those who assassinated them? Will they pay for their crime? Or, as usual, we sweep under the carpet”. After reading this shocking story, Bambi learned that two of the three victims are brothers. She knows their cousins ☹.  

Ms. Douglas wrote: “This morning, whilst contemplating the Red Cross volunteers roaming the streets of Achrafieh [in Beirut], I realized that the Lebanese state pays a number of persons to do nothing whilst making many others work without paying them” .

L’Orient le Jour: “I will not renounce repeating it: It is the Lebanese and Syrian regimes that assassinated my father [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Kassir]. It is them who used to follow him, for all to see, for years, who threatened him, even in our naive ears”.

Ms. Roula Douglas wrote: “With the acquittal of 3 of the 4 suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and the absence of a “direct link” established between the attack and Syria or Hezbollah, the STL [Special Tribunal for Lebanon]’s verdict is far from being up to the expectations of the victims”.

Ms. Roula Douglas wrote: “Courage is to keep fighting when there is no more hope”, Chomsky. Courage is a decision. For those who have been torn from us, for us, for our children, let’s make the conscious choice, with determination but without naiveté, to be courageous”.

There is nothing more beautiful and moving than the words above. This will conclude this post. Be safe Roula et al… Et al. = not just your/our family but also the whole Lebanon that you care for deeply.

Here is a CBC article by Mr. Éric Grenier featuring the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) established by Mr. Maxime Bernier:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/peoples-party-canada-maxime-bernier-1.5695908

Like the Bloc Québécois , and unlike all the other federal parties, “the PPC did not participate in the wage subsidy program“. Whether you agree with their respective ideas (platforms) or not, it tells you that these parties seem to be principled.

The article also talks about how this party manages its finances and salaries. Again, this seems quite reasonable to Bambi. If you see something she is missing in this article, please feel free to comment.

As far as Bambi is concerned, she had wished Lebanon had more financially reasonable political parties and politicians like Mr. Maxime Bernier… and, thankfully, like many of our decent public servants who exist across parties and at all levels of governance. Sadly, this is not the case in Beirut. Despite all the talents and skills in the population, the mafia-like political leaders (from the era of civil war) do not seem to show signs of reforms, even after the surrealistic tragedy of Beirut seaport!

From the following Die Welt report, we learned that Iran sent three shipments of ammonium nitrate to Beirut over the past few years:

Hezbollah shipped explosive chemicals to Lebanon prior to Beirut blast: Report

After reading the above Die Welt article, Bambi watched a Lebanese MTV News documentary online (https://www.mtv.com.lb/en/#). It seems that more explosive chemicals were found on the site of the seaport explosion by both Lebanese and foreign experts: Ammonium nitrate and ammonium phosphate in addition to tires, fireworks, car and bike engines, a lot of vegetable oil, and a LARGE amount of coffee. In addition to the latter, some items were not declared in official paperwork such as: Methanol, more ammonium nitrate (of another source than the above) and a large quantity of vegetable oil.

Some of these simple ingredients are suspected to be bomb-making material (e.g., the coffee, etc.), according to an expert guest on MTV.

Who is to blame for all this, besides Hezbollah? Who knew about the dangerous chemicals and shut their eyes to public danger? These individuals, whomever they are, are all partners in the crime.

Who should resign… AND walk straight to jail, after this criminal negligence?

Will Lebanon finally reform itself after the surrealistic tragedy?!

So many questions… BUT, once again, no answers without an international (transparent and independent) investigation!

Until then, here are the latest SAD news from Beirut in pictures…

His name is Elias. He died at age 15 after having struggled to survive in the intensive care for two weeks. Bambi’s parents know his family/him. They are heart-broken, as you can imagine (they go to the same nearby church). What a beautiful picture taken from: https://www.imlebanon.org/2020/08/20/elias-khoury1/ .

There is nothing more heart-breaking than this picture ☹ (also taken from: https://www.imlebanon.org/2020/08/20/elias-khoury1/). Bambi’s heart goes to Elias’ family and friends. She is also sending her positive vibes/prayer to Father Justinianos whose own spouse is recovering from a second surgery (arm badly injured).

Another sad picture taken from: https://www.imlebanon.org/2020/08/20/elias-khoury1/. People are wearing white, not black, in order to honour Elias (as a youth or a young groom, so to speak), not as a dead young body, no (hence the white coffin)!

Elias’ classmates carrying his coffin. As his Jesus & Mary High School principal said it: “He graduated too soon”.

Mr. Alaa El Mohammad (31-year-old) escaped war in Syria. He thought he was safe in Beirut but he sadly lost his spouse (28-year-old). He drove her coffin to the border and returned to the hospital. Two of his three daughters are critically injured, if Bambi recalls this family’s story well. In this picture, he seems to be reading El Fatiha (a beautiful prayer). How will he find the strength to tell his daughters that they lost their mom, asks journalist Roula Douglas?

         Good-bye day to Mr. Ghassan Hasrouty as well… May they both rest in peace!

Yes, good-bye Elias. The picture reads: “Elias Khoury, our smile that went away”. A picture taken from:  https://www.imlebanon.org/2020/08/20/elias-khoury1/ (or was it from # Pray for Beirut?).

Well said… thanks and bravo too!

Bambi posted the story of Ralph earlier (a son, a brother, a soccer fan, sadly one of Beirut’s first victims… and heroes!). Good-bye to him too.

Lebanon’s youth deserve a country that is better governed!

Indeed, this picture killed Bambi… “Bon courage” Karlen!

That was a beautiful gesture indeed!

Good bye Joe… and thank you!

Here is Ralph again… good-bye and many thanks!

This is Sahar with her fiancé. Sadly, we can also see him getting close to her coffin (perhaps trying to touch her for the last time). He is being carried on the shoulders of his loved ones, just like in a wedding (they were supposed to get married next year). As a reminder, Sahar was the courageous paramedic with the team of Beirut firefighters. Thanks to her too!

This last picture speaks for itself…

What a sad chapter of Lebanon’s history. May healing and hope prevail, day after day!

Emperor Trudeau II has no clothes and he is ugly, at least in Bambi’s eyes. This remains the case, with or without a Parliament’s prorogation (https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/pm-trudeau-prorogues-parliament-until-sept-23-1.5068461).

As for Mr. Pierre Poilievre, he keeps on impressing Bambi (interesting to listen to in both languages). Who knows? He may be one of our best Canadian politicians…

Once again, and obviously, Mr. Trudeau should resign. Actually, what is he still waiting for?

Mmm, after reading the above tweet, Bambi came to the following sarcastic conclusion, which was also made as a joke by a loved one: “It is not the police that should be defunded, it is rather the CBC” :). Seriously, Mr. Bernier is right on this one (other sarcastic words):

In all honesty, as a citizen, Bambi does not care if Ms. Freeland is a woman or not (mind you, she does not know about you, but she recalls well how/why our PM lost two highly competent women in his cabinet…). In Bambi’s mind, what matters the most is the qualities of integrity and competency, instead of sex or gender per se (or ethnolinguistic background, religion like in other countries, etc.). Competency could be refined on the job. As for integrity, you have to develop it by a certain age. In Bambi’s non-expert citizen’s opinion, independence of mind is perhaps the key quality here, as it is related to both integrity and competency.

As a reminder, Mr. Bernier was not re-elected. When you are authentic, you remain principled whether in power or not. Interestingly too, Mr. Poilievre is not running for the leadership of his party (too bad his own party leader drinks too much milk :)). Seriously, this may make them both more lucid in their own ways.

More seriously, as a classical liberal and as a former Liberal voter for most of her life, Bambi is very disappointed yet not surprised. After all, it is Mr. Trudeau’s third ethical conflict of interest, neither the first nor the second.

The current saga reminds Bambi of the old bad taste of a Liberal scandal that made her vote for the NDP, perhaps 16 years ago (i.e., the sponsorship scandal). All this is disgusting and it harms the reputation of other excellent Liberal Ministers, MPs, and their staff. Too bad!

Thankfully, as shared in another post, Bambi did not vote for Mr. Trudeau the second time. For her, once was more than enough. Thus, if our PM survives the WE charity scandal saga, she can comfort herself with her own lucidity. The latter can be even more comforting… in case of a fourth Trudeau’s conflict of interest :).

Thank you BBC for this news piece about the firefighters killed in the Beirut explosion.

The top political Lebanese authorities literally sent them to death…

Yes, no one told them what product was stored at the Beirut seaport when they went to extinguish the first fire. Can you imagine?

Furthermore, there were about 20 LONG minutes between the second and third (apocalyptic) explosion. Despite this, they did not tell them!

Clearly, they prevented them from the possibility of securing the area, from getting more support (police, army, etc.). They could have even told Beirut citizens to stay away of their windows, and risky places, etc. Many lives could have been saved (many eyes too…).

Instead , they just told them some wheat was burning at the port… Can you imagine?

How not to feel upset by this criminal negligence?

Bambi is saying the above, regardless of whether the nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (more or less, who cares?) were “forgotten” at the seaport (for 6 years) OR were being used for civil purposes (e.g., agriculture) OR… meant for another type of agriculture, namely related to seeds of terror.

We may never know the truth… without an international investigation.

In four days only, the talented Algerian “King of Rai” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_(musician) completed a new single for Beirut entitled “Elle s’appelle Beyrouth“!

His new song, filled with heartfelt emotions expressed in both French and Arabic on an oriental music, moved Bambi’s heart in the middle of the night (yes, she did listen to this beautiful song of hope shared by her sister Roula whilst sleeping). How could she not be deeply touched hearing him singing: “I have heard the tears of Lebanon; On the cedar, the sap of blood… ”.

This new single literally means “Her name is Beirut′′ and features the talented Rodge (http://rodgemusic.com/#!/pages/artist-single).

All profits will be donated to the Lebanese Red Cross.

THANK YOU “Cheb Khaled” (whose nickname literally means “Young Khaled”)!!

As very well written by Mr. Christophe Levent in “Le Parisien” in his article entitled “Her name is Beirut: Khaled sings hope for Lebanon’s capital” [«Elle s’appelle Beyrouth»: Khaled chante l’espoir pour la capitale du Liban”, shorturl.at/jnANS]:

“In Arabic and French, for the chorus, on music with necessarily oriental accents, the single was produced under the influence of the immense emotion felt by the “king of Raï”. “I was very touched, bruised by this disaster. I lost my smile. I have often gone to sing in Beirut since 1993. I have seen this destroyed city rebuild after the war. I like this country. I have a lot of musician friends there… So seeing the images of destruction again, homeless people in the street, it hurts. I wanted to do something to help them,”he says.

This cry from the heart, Khaled considers it first of all a message of hope and support. “It is the role of the artist, of the music to bring a little joy to life. Don’t let people sink into sadness. But I know the Lebanese and I have a lot of admiration for them: they never give up. Even without roofs, they are still able to smile. This city will be rebuilt. I also understand their anger: sometimes, as it happened in Algeria, the people have reasons to yell”.

The Beirut explosions took place on August, 4, 2020. They resulted in about 180 death thus far whilst injuring 6,500+. There are 30 citizens still missing and about 300,000 families made homeless. The total damage costs amounted to at least $15 billion (as of August 12, 2020).

Once again, many thanks to Khaled as well as Rodge!

For those who do not know it, President Aoun (along with his party and largest parliamentary bloc) has aligned himself with the Hizbullah since 2005 upon his return from exile in France.

Hizbullah is the country’s only remaining heavily armed militia post ciivl-war (of course with its classical excuse of “resistance” to Israel. The latter occupied Lebanon for 15 years, until 2000.

Hizbullah is the main ally of Iran and of Mr. Syria’s Bachar el-Assad’s, along with Russia during the Syrian war (if Bambi is not mistaken).

As a reminder, Syria, which occupied Lebanon for 30 years, withdrew its troops in 2005 (in the middle of a so-called Cedar Revolution. The latter is a chain of demonstrations, triggered by the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri. Of course, this is what happened on the ground. Of course, capitals of the key players of the world may have also helped the cause by pushing for this move given the seriousness of the crime).

Below, you can see two tweets by Lebanon’s President, one following the other. The first was published prior to the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and the second immediately following its final verdict. Thanks to journalist Roula Douglas for her thoughtful tweet, combining the two original presidential tweets by l’Orient Le Jour (a quick translation will follow).

In the first tweet, Lebanon’s President is saying: “After a long period of time, “justice is no longer just”. HOWEVER, immediately following the (rather useless) verdict, he changed his mind, writing: “Justice has been rendered to everyone’s desire to shed light on this crime“.

Well, the President’s tweets show us an absurd contradiction. Isn’t it?

Anyhow, FYI, here are the two original tweets again:

Bambi does not know if she should bitterly laugh or just smile to such contradictions in life. She is saying so whilst feeling BOTH sad and angry about impunity in her birth country.

Indeed, her heart goes to ALL the innocent victims of ALL the crimes, from the large explosion that killed PM Rafik Hariri and many innocent people to the many other assassinations, which followed it.

Look at this handsome youth! Why did he have to die? Why do his parents and loved ones have to suffer? For whom? For what? For which ideology or just stupid negligence? Or both?

As you know, the latest “crime” in Beirut was its surrealistic seaport explosions that killed over 180+ people, including Elias (it also injured 6000+, destroyed the city, and made over 300,000 homeless). Whether accidental or not, Bambi is convinced that the blasts (i.e., the circumstances leading to them…) MUST be internationally investigated. Of course, Lebanon’s President is against the latter (like his “chum”, Mr. Nasrallah).

This being said, after today’s verdict of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, one may wonder to what extent are UN-backed international tribunals truly able to help save Lebanon from its two life-threatening diseases: criminality and corruption? Of course, Lebanon has also a third acute crisis, namely the coronavirus, like the rest of the world. However, despite the high danger of the covid-19 pandemic, especially now it seems, the latter is perhaps the mildest of Lebanon’s three comorbid tragedies.

Indeed, thankfully, even a long pandemic will eventually diminish and may end one of these days. That’s for the dangerous coronavirus… When will the deadly bacteria of impunity stop in Lebanon? Please tell Bambi when!

https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/18/un-backed-court-to-issue-verdicts-in-lebanon-s-hariri-murder-case

Mr. Morneau resigned from his job this evening.

He seemed to be saying that he will be taking another job “to keep serving Canadians”, namely the Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD (https://www.oecd.org/canada/ ). Maybe he negotiated this deal whilst stepping down as Finance Minister? Or maybe it was a planned career move? Anyhow, best wishes to him now that he stepped down (hoping he learned lessons that will serve him in his new role). This being said, it is a bit strange to see someone promoting a career move whilst resigning.

As also expressed in an earlier post, Bambi thanks him for his long service… minus the WE Charity conflict of interest.

As for Mr. Trudeau, once again, he has the exact same behaviour as in the past (at least he is true to himself): He seemed to have “sacrificed” one of his significant team members to use the translated term of a journalist from Radio-Canada who asked Mr. Morneau a question in French at his press conference this evening.

Mr. Morneau appeared dignified (nervous of course at times, although remarkably calm, diplomatic, and… again dignified).

The sarcastic reaction came fast from Mr. Pierre Poilievre who tweeted the following:

Mr. Poilievre, the clever (and at times funny) Shadow Minister of Finance (Official Opposition) will be having a press conference tomorrow at 11 AM EST.

Bambi is curious to also hear from Mr. Blanchet, BQ leader. As a reminder, he has been calling for the resignation of Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Morneau, and Ms. Telford (the latter, Chief of Staff, may have been involved in yet another conflict of interest).

As for Mr. Trudeau, everyone is expecting he would name Mr. Mark Carney (a solid name) to replace Mr. Morneau.

This being said, how will Mr. Trudeau justify that, 6 days ago only, he told us that he has full confidence in Mr. Morneau?

What happened to that confidence Mr. Trudeau? It is you who should have resigned tonight, not him… or, ideally, both of you (as Bambi posted a while ago).

Of note, one journalist asked Mr. Morneau, did you lose confidence in Mr. Trudeau?

Of course, Mr. Morneau was wise, strategic, and respectful. In all his replies, he used the right words in both languages. Of note, at least tonight, he seemed to be a more reasonable politician than his (former) boss.

To conclude this post, had Bambi been Mr. Morneau, she would feel relieved not to be closely working with Mr. Trudeau anymore :). Who knows? In reality, these two men may remain united in the “Unis” (We Charity, in French) saga that could follow their reputations longer than they think? Mind you, who knows, they may still closely work together, through future collaborations between the OECD and the government (assuming Trudeau will survive)?!

His name is Mr. Nagi Sukkarieh.

He is FULL of talent.

If you do not believe Bambi, just listen to the video showing him playing the piano and see for yourself!

Before doing so, you may be curious to know: who is Mr. Sukkarieh?

Mr. Sukkarieh is Bambi’s good friend from her childhood neighbourhood in Beirut.

Specifically, he is one of Marina’s brothers.

Well, Marina (now in Los Angeles) is initially a friend of her sister Roula, in addition to being a good friend of her other sister Rania and a friend of Amale, a friend in Montreal (also from their same neighborhood). Let’s call her another sister to them/us all. It is simpler :). Seriously, it tells you something about Marina and her family. Everyone loves the Sukkariehs.

To come back to Mr. Nagi Sukkarieh, he is not just a friend of Bambi but of her entire family.

Mr. Sukkarieh’s heart is aching for his beloved Beirut, capital of his birth country.

Naturally, he turned to his piano.

Generously, he accepted Bambi’s invitation to share his music on her blog. She is grateful and honoured.

Thank you, Dear Nagi, for reminding Bambi that music can heal our pain.

This being said, let Bambi tell you more about her friend Nagi:

Mr. Sukkarieh immigrated to the United States at a young age, over 3-4 decades ago.

He is an accomplished engineer in New Jersey, USA.

He is a devoted father and a loving spouse.

He is also an amazingly caring sibling to his talented sister and brother (hello Marina and Michel, Bambi misses seeing you too!).

He grew up in Beirut on the same street as Bambi’s family. Hence the strong ties.

For those who do not know it, neighbours do have a significant place in people’s hearts in Lebanon. These ties are even deeper, during a civil war, when everyone is in a survival yet supportive mode.

Like Bambi, the Beirut explosions hit close to home, for him and his family.

On a lighter note, Bambi will always remember when she visited New York (NY) with Mirella and Lea in 1994. Bambi was so happy to chat with Nagi on the phone to the point that she prevented her friends from sleeping. Indeed, Mr. Sukkarieh and her connected by phone late at the end of that day (after his work). At one point, Bambi forgot the time and started laughing in the middle of the night to stories and memories from their Beirut neighborhood. OK, Bambi admits that that was not thoughtful on her behalf, especially that she usually cares for her friends’ well-being. Well, luckily Mirella and Lea did not kill her that night, even if they were exhausted from their long bus trip. Of course, they forgave her when they met Nagi the second day. Like Bambi, they were touched by his kind spirit. MANY years later, this silly story remains a funny memory of their NY trip.

Many years following the above story, the 911 tragedy devastated NY and impacted us all. Well, until now, Bambi connects every year with the Sukkariehs by email to remember and honour innocent people who died in this catastrophe. Lately, it was moving for Bambi to hear many Beirutis call their surrealistic blasts “their own 911“, as reported in the international media.

To come back to music and conclude this post, let’s borrow the beautiful and famous words of Mr. Gibran Khalil Gibran (another Lebanese-American, 1883-1931):

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

May music, love, and compassion prevail in Beirut.

May music bring healing, closure, peace, and hope to all.

May Beirutis succeed in re-building their lives, slowly but surely, despite their grieving hearts, injured bodies, destroyed houses, psychological trauma (in addition to coping with their country’s financial crisis and the covid-19 pandemic).

May justice be served for all the victims. Until then, may music help everyone alive in hanging on to life… Of course, not an easy task when we feel shattered deep inside.